The Woman Who Wasn't There
by Aerika S
Summary: *I updated. Go me.* An old friend of Leon's walks back into his life - desperate for his help and delivering an offer he can't refuse.
1. I

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
Chapter I  
  
  
Leon Kennedy checked the rear view mirror and was none too surprised to find a red Miata with tinted windows a few cars back. For the past week, the red car had made an appearance virtually everywhere he went. The lack of subtlety was almost as annoying as being followed itself. {If you're going to tail someone}, he thought, {why would you use a red Miata? Drive a beige Camry or something. Everybody drives a fucking beige Camry}. He made an abrupt U-turn, cutting off a mini-van and nearly driving off the road. The little red car drove straight on, passing through the intersection and out of his view.  
  
{Good riddance}. Angry beeping from the mini-van brought his thoughts back to the road. He gave its driver an apologetic wave, although he was thinking of another gesture entirely. That Miata had him in a foul mood.   
  
Not that his morning shopping trip had done anything to brighten his spirits. He had met a gun dealer outside of Chicago. Chris Redfield had gotten the man's name from police records. The dealer was scum, but his "all cash, no questions" policy coupled with Leon's need for anonymity made him a necessary evil. Even as his inner cop rebelled, Leon had handed over the unmarked bills in exchange for the goods while the words "greater good" repeated in his head.   
  
He didn't even know why they were stockpiling now. The five of them, Chris, Jill, Barry, Claire and himself, had been back in the States for three months without making a move. It didn't look the near future would bring any change either. All was quiet on the Umbrella front. The international corporation was keeping a low profile after a few too many public incidents, the nuking of Raccoon City foremost among them. The company's role in that tragedy had yet to be uncovered, but a break in at one of their European facilities followed by a mysterious explosion on an island with ties to the company had their name coming up more frequently than comfort would allow. It doesn't take much to get conspiracy theorists going after all.   
  
Unfortunately, most people don't listen to conspiracy theorists - except other conspiracy theorists. They were working that route anyway, hoping to get as much word out as they could. The Lone Gunmen are out there and they're much weirder than they ever were on the X-Files. They currently had two groups on board - the Roswell Liberation Front and the Gaia Group. The latter was an environmental group that had latched onto the biohazard threat posed by Umbrella with religious fervor. The RLF hadn't been as receptive, preferring to stick with aliens. A warm smile and a little cleavage from Jill had changed their minds. So they had an audience, it was just, as Barry put it, in the "living in their parents' basement" demographic. Claire would read the RLF's monthly newsletter whenever she felt like a laugh. The rest of them pretended it was a good start.  
  
In short, things were not going well. And now, someone was following Leon. He was positive the Miata had never followed him back to the townhouse the group was using the other times he had spotted it, but it was still unnerving. There was no sign of it now. Just to be safe, he took several false routes before finally heading home.  
  
***  
  
Across town, the driver of the red Miata smiled. Things were going according to plan. The confrontation with Kennedy would be soon and it would change everything...  
  
***  
  
Leon turned into the driveway behind the townhouse. He was relieved to be home and away from the red Miata. He knew he was being paranoid, but in his current circumstances, paranoia was a virtue. The very day after escaping Raccoon City, in a hospital recuperating from a gunshot wound to his shoulder, he had seen strange men in expensive suits around. The Suits arranged a meeting with him a private lounge. They demonstrated a disconcerting amount of knowledge about him, Sherry Birkin, and Claire Redfield. They did not mention Ada Wong. They made him an offer. They made it clear he should accept. Who they were with or what they really wanted with him, he never learned, because fifteen minutes after the meeting, he left the hospital without bothering to check out.   
  
He had been looking over his shoulder ever since. Attempts to locate Sherry had proven futile and often resulted in a visit from a Suit to the area from which he placed his calls. Phone calls from Claire when she was planning her trip to Europe to find her brother had been subject to scrutiny as well. They had heard interference during the calls, but had attributed it to the cell phone Claire was using. When she finally arrived in Paris to an airport teeming with yet more Suits, they both knew better. Claire had been able to escape without incident, but the two had stuck to vague e-mails and anonymous posts on the Internet as their means of communication for the remainder of her time in Europe.  
  
They had been communicating much more freely since her return of course. They had gotten quite close, in fact. Shared traumas can do that for two people. The reunion had been bittersweet. By that time, Leon had met and befriended Jill Valentine and Barry Burton, Chris's co-workers and fellow Umbrella survivors. The three had gathered at a secluded, private airport to welcome the Redfields back home. They had anticipated a happy reunion, but it became clear something was wrong. Claire had come back with her brother, but it was obvious she had lost something else in the process. She was quiet, reserved and the fire inside that had gotten her through Raccoon City and worse seemed a little dim. Jill, having known Claire longer than Leon, noticed it first. Both of them were concerned. Queries to an equally worried Chris yielded the story of Steve Burnside's death. Claire would talk on occasion about what had happened, but only to describe what had occurred, not how it affected her. All of them, even the usually gruff Barry, had tried consoling her. For two and a half months, Claire claimed she was fine. It wasn't until a memorial service for the whole of Raccoon City that Claire was forced to confront her demons. Seeing the grief of others woke the emotions in her. Leon had been there for her that night.   
  
The two of them reached a deeper understanding of each other then and grown even closer since. So far, they hadn't complicated their relationship by being anything other than friends. Still, Leon was looking forward to talking to her after the morning he had had. Walking into the townhouse with a fake smile on his face, he announced, "I'm home!"  
  
"Hi, honey. Did you have a good day at work?" Claire responded, matching Leon's sarcastic cheer. She was sitting on the couch, taking in an overdose of talk shows. She was in good mood, something that had been increasing in frequency since their talk.   
  
Leon thought of the gun dealer and the red Miata. "Oh definitely. I get to meet the most interesting people." Claire eyed the two briefcases that constituted his morning purchases. Handing them over, Leon said, "Here, don't say I never gave you anything."   
  
Claire opened the cases and gave an appreciative whistle. "You know, with all the guns and ammo we've been getting, we could start one hell of a doomsday cult."  
  
"You mean we're not in one already?"  
  
Claire laughed. She thought Leon was still being sarcastic.  
  
***  
  
Jill Valentine did not like what she was seeing. Chris had his Swiss Army knife out and was tapping it against their table in the diner they had come to for lunch. Each tap dug a little deeper into the cheap formica. Chris Redfield was angry.  
  
"You know," she said, "You do any more damage and we're going to have to leave one hell of a tip."  
  
"He just should stay in Canada," Chris snapped. "He goes there so goddamned much anyway."  
  
Jill sighed. She had been expecting this every since Barry told them he had to go check on his family. It was Barry's second trip to Canada in as many months. They had taken him to the train station this morning. She was about to respond to Chris when the waitress brought their orders. The waitress glared at Chris and his knife as she served his hamburger and Jill's salad. Chris glared back. The waitress left without a word.  
  
"Great, Chris, that was just great. Maybe you can shout profanities at her when she comes back to refill your Coke." Jill was getting a little angry herself. "Damn it, she brought me a chef salad."  
  
"Guess you shouldn't have defended her so quickly," Chris said flatly.  
  
It was Jill's turn to glare. She picked out the little cubes of turkey and ham and threw them in Chris's direction. Jill had become a vegetarian approximately one second after seeing her teammate, Kenneth Sullivan, being consumed by a zombie. "Look, it's his family. His wife and small children. They can't defend themselves like we can and they've already been threatened once before because of all this Umbrella crap. That's why he moved them to Canada to begin with."  
  
"I know." Chris's voice was loud enough to attract the stares of a few fellow diners. Lowering it, he continued, "He moved them there to be safe. And they are safe. The last time he went up there, it was because his wife heard weird scratching sounds coming from outside. He went all the way up there and it turned out to be a fucking dog rooting through the fucking trashcans. This time, she saw a guy walking through their yard. Christ, Jill, we don't reach for the guns every time somebody walks by the front door."  
  
Maybe Leon does, Jill thought. But it wasn't Leon's nervous manner that was the issue - it was Chris's hostile behavior. Even before he left for Europe, he'd been acting oddly. Getting violent over the smallest of things one minute, laughing about the same thing the next. Chris, Jill and Barry had planned on going to Europe at the same time, but a hot lead had Chris leaving without them. Jill knew it was his desire, his need, to get Umbrella that caused him to act that way, but it still bothered her. And ever since his rescue mission to Rockfort Island, he was getting worse. Searching for Claire, he had found an old enemy instead. Wesker, back from the dead and in an incarnation far more sinister and deadly than the corrupt S.T.A.R.S. leader that nearly cost them their lives. Worse yet, Wesker had made it clear he was working for an organization with goals and methods similar to Umbrella's. So now, it wasn't just Umbrella anymore. Another group, whose name they did not even know, was out there, ready to make another Raccoon City. And Chris Redfield had appointed himself the man who was going to stop them both.  
  
Jill decided to try a different approach. "Okay, it may just be a waste of time, but don't you think Barry's peace of mind is worth it? We've got to be focused, Chris. Do you want Barry worrying about his kids when we're up against armed guards or Umbrella's undead creature du jour? We've got downtime now..." Jill trailed off. The look on Chris's face indicated downtime was the wrong word to say.   
  
In a low, bitter voice he said, "Yeah, we just got all the fucking time in the world, don't we?"   
  
Chris shoved his plate towards her then got up and went to the men's room. Jill could feel the eyes of the other diners on her. She sunk low into the upholstered booth and silently willed them to go back to their food. It's not fair, she thought, Umbrella and Wesker are out there doing what they want, when they want and not answering to anybody. We're stuck here spinning our wheels and driving ourselves crazy.   
  
Chris came out of the bathroom and gave her a signal to leave. Jill was half tempted to ignore him. They stared at each other across the diner. Finally, Jill dug a ten out of her pockets, tossed it on the table and left. It was not enough to cover a tip.  
  
***  
  
  
Claire weighed her options. Chris and Jill had gotten back hours ago, but both were in a funk. Leon was still on the couch, picking up the channel surfing where she had left off. She was the only one left to fix dinner. Faced with only a frozen pizza, a few microwave burritos and a container of questionable milk in the refrigerator, Claire was a bit perplexed as to what to make. In the end, she gave up.   
  
Walking into the living room, she gave Leon a big, toothy grin and asked him sweetly if he would do her a favor. A raised auburn eyebrow was her response.  
  
"Come on. I just want to make dinner and I need you to get a few things from the grocery store."  
  
"What do you need?" he asked as he got up.  
  
"Near as I can tell, just...food. And lots of it. Here, use the credit card the RLF got us."  
  
Leon rolled his eyes, but took the credit card. He heard Claire saying thank you as he walked out the door. He almost went back in when he saw Chris's van behind his jeep in the driveway. He could tell Chris had run into it, the black of the van's bumper had rubbed onto the silver of the jeep's, but decided against calling him on it because of the crappy mood Chris was in. No real damage had been done anyway. Leon's "new" jeep was old army surplus and could take an angry jerk doing a lousy parking job. Still, he was blocked in. The store was less than a half-mile away, so he decided to walk. It gave him an excuse not to buy much.  
  
***  
  
"That'll be $25.36, sir."  
  
Leon hesitated before giving the cashier the credit card. The RLF had assured them it was a bogus account that was completely untraceable, but then again...it was the RLF. The young, female clerk smiled at him while they waited for credit approval.   
  
She gave him the receipt and chirped, "Thank you for shopping S Mart, Mr..." She looked at the credit card. "Walker. Funny, you don't look like an Elza."  
  
"It's my girlfriend's card," he said. The cashier stopped smiling and gave him the card back.  
  
Leon laughed to himself as he walked out the automatic doors of the grocery store. He wondered what Claire would think when he told her about the clerk. Then he wondered why he wanted to tell Claire...  
  
He stopped abruptly, nearly dropping the groceries. Parked in front of the store was a red Miata. Leaning against the red Miata was Ada Wong.   
  
  
  
  
Author's Notes - {{yawn}} boring set-up chapter, but hey, I'm writing something long this time. Debate amongst yourselves if that's a good thing. This originally was going to be another short story about Leon and Ada meeting for the first time after Raccoon City, but then I started fiddling around with it and now I'm dealing with a rough outline that has twelve chapters. Barry will be back and other familiar faces will drop in. Rebecca and Sherry will not appear because they annoy me. And yes, this chapter does contain a reference to another one of my stories "Going Through the Emotions", a story I now need to edit to fit into the time frame of this story. I should probably proof read it while I'm at it too :). Until next time...Aerika  



	2. II

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
Chapter II  
  
  
"Hello, Leon. It's good to see you again."  
  
Leon didn't answer. He stared ahead, his mouth slightly agape. Ada Wong was dead. Ada Wong was standing seven feet in front of him.  
  
"You look good, Leon. How's your shoulder?"  
  
Ada had grown her hair out since he last saw her. It hung at shoulder length, neatly framing her face. The face he had spent the last six months trying to forget.  
  
"Leon?" She looked concerned. She sounded concerned. But Leon had seen it and heard it before. He had come to believe it was all a lie then and he had his doubts now.  
  
"What do you want me to say, Ada?"  
  
She gave him a small, wistful smile. "I was hoping to hear how happy you are to see me. I guess that's asking a little much though."  
  
He didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure how he felt about seeing her. He went over all the old arguments in his head. She had lied about what she was doing in Raccoon City. She had lied about her encounters with the Birkins. She had left him to go off and complete her mission as soon as she got the chance. In the end, she had partly confessed the truth to him, along with claims of love. Then she died in his arms. As it turned out, that had been a lie too.  
  
But if he had to be completely honest with himself, he was happy to see her alive.  
  
"Come on, Leon. Say something. If you want to tell me how much you miss me, do it. If you want to yell at me, do it. Just don't stand there staring at me." This was definitely the Ada he remembered - in command of the situation, demanding to be noticed.  
  
"How are you even alive? That Tyrant thing...Ada, I saw you die."  
  
"You're a cop, not a paramedic. But in a way, I think you're right. I did die a little that night."  
  
The obtuse answer reinforced his doubt. "Cut the cryptic bullshit, Ada. If you can't be straight with me, I'm not even going to bother."  
  
"Oh, Leon..." Ada trailed off. She started glancing around the parking lot as if she was looking her car instead of the right words to say. She was used to this sort of thing though. In her line of work, one doesn't get very far without the ability to read a situation and adapt. Leon wanted honesty. Ada decided to give it to him. "Fine, you have the right to know what happened. I think I owe you that. But not here, Leon. I've got a hotel room about ten minutes away. We can go there and talk privately."  
  
"I've got people waiting for me."  
  
"Then I'll give you a ride home. We can talk in the car."  
  
"So you can find out exactly where we're staying?"  
  
Ada rolled her eyes. "You have a brain, Leon, use it. I've been following you for week. If I wanted to turn you and your little friends in, you'd be in custody now."  
  
She had a point. And he wanted to know what had happened to her. But he wasn't completely sure he could trust her. He decided on a compromise. "There's a park two miles down the road. It's got a lot of secluded scenic overlook spots. We can talk there."  
  
Ada's smile returned. "Ok, fine with me. Look, Leon, I'll answer any questions you have as best I can. I want you to trust me but I know I haven't exactly given you a reason to. But here's a start. I admit I didn't track you down just to say hello. I did it because I need your help."  
  
Of course, she wants something he thought, but he didn't say anything to Ada. As he walked towards her Miata, he looked into Ada's eyes. Behind the arrogance, the calm demeanor, there was sincerity. He remembered the last time he had seen that look in her eyes...  
  
He tossed the grocery bags in the back seat before getting in the passenger's seat. He wasn't thinking about Claire waiting at the townhouse. He was thinking about Ada. Maybe his first instincts had been right about her. The anger and doubt he felt towards her had come after the fact, when he had time to overanalyze every word she had spoken, every action she had taken. Maybe his paranoia in general had just transferred to paranoia towards Ada in particular.  
  
Ada sat down in the driver's seat. Placing her hand on Leon's knee, she turned to him and said, "You don't know how glad I am to have found you."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Chris hesitated in front of the door to the bedroom he shared with Jill. He knew she was inside. When they had gotten back from lunch, she had gone straight upstairs. Not that he blamed her. Now that he had had time to cool off, he realized what a jerk he had been. He recalled his father's advice for dealing with an angry woman - "Always apologize. Sooner than later. Even if you're right." He was wrong this time, so he knew he better get to it.  
  
He gave a soft knock on the door before opening it. Jill was on the bed, reading a book and absently eating from a bag of Doritos.   
  
"I think Claire's starting to make dinner. You don't want to ruin your appetite with that junk."  
  
"It's not like I had a whole lot of time to eat my lunch today." Jill's tone was neutral. It wasn't a jab at Chris so much as an opening for him to start talking about what happened.  
  
"Umm, I'm sorry about the diner. I was angry with Barry, not you. It's just..."  
  
"You're frustrated," Jill said as she put down her book and moved closer to Chris. He sat down on the bed beside her. "You're frustrated," she continued, "and Barry's leaving this morning just reinforced the fact that we haven't been able to do as much about Umbrella as we wanted."  
  
"No kidding." Jill wasn't about to let him dwell on it though. She moved behind him and began massaging his shoulders. Jill understood. She always understood.  
  
"I know you hate hearing this, but just give it time. Umbrella will slip up. Wesker will show himself. We will nail them both." Jill put her knuckles into the job. Chris was really tense. After he relaxed a little, she said, "You know, in a way it's good that we haven't heard anything about them. It means they're not up to their old tricks."  
  
That we know of Chris thought. As if sensing the negative thought, Jill dug her knuckle deep between his shoulder blades. Chris let out a small yell of protest, but in truth, it felt good. Jill continued on with her work without comment.  
  
"This is good," Chris mused. "Real good."  
  
"I could work your muscles a little better if you took off your shirt."  
  
Chris turned and winked at her. "Only if you take off yours first."  
  
Jill laughed. This was the Chris Redfield she loved. She savored having him back.  
  
  
***  
  
Leon and Ada watched a pair of joggers go by. They were sitting on a park bench surrounded by a cluster of trees. Save for the joggers, they had the area to themselves.  
  
Leon waited until the joggers had disappeared around a corner before he spoke. "I guess we should start with the big question - how are you still alive?"  
  
Ada played with the hem of her shirt. This was not a memory she liked revisiting. "A co-worker of mine found me. Fixed me up."  
  
"Co-worker?"  
  
"Albert Wesker." Ada spat out the name in much the same manner as Chris Redfield. "He found me, gave me an injection that brought me around." Ada paused upon seeing Leon's horrified look. "No, it wasn't the T-Virus. It was some kind of pharmaceutical cocktail whipped up by the Company. God only knows what's in it. It didn't heal me, it just kept me alive long enough for Wesker to drag me out of there. He told me that even though I had fucked up royally with the virus, he thought that I might still prove useful. Bastard. I was just a commodity to him." Ada leaned backwards, folding her arms across her chest. "Wesker used to work for Umbrella. He knew of another exit besides the underground train. He carried me out on his shoulder like a sack of flour, going on about how much I owed him all the while. I think the Company had already started the experiments that altered him back then. Anyway, he had arranged for a pick-up just outside of town. We rendezvoused with an agent and went back to HQ. I spent the next month and a half in the infirmary."  
  
"Ada, you keep mentioning a company..."  
  
"No, the Company. And let's just leave their name at that." Ada cut off Leon before he could object. "I know I told you I would answer all your questions, but you have to trust me on this. The less you know about these people, the better off you are. You've encountered them before. Men in Armani suits and sunglasses that are neither Will Smith nor Tommy Lee Jones."  
  
"Yeah," Leon answered, "I've seen them. They made me a job offer."  
  
"So I heard. You made the right choice. Believe me, I know. I don't want to alarm you, but you pissed off some very powerful people by walking out. They are looking for you. That's why I don't want to tell you who they are. You start making inquiries about them, and they will be all over you before you can blink. You do not fuck with these people."  
  
"I doubt they could be any worse than Umbrella." Leon stopped as Ada laughed sharply. "Ok, so you think they're worse than Umbrella. Why are you still working for them?"  
  
Ada flashed him an impatient look. "Don't you get it, Leon?" She went on angrily, "It's not my choice. The Company thinks they own me. I think they may be right."  
  
Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Leon listened to Ada's rapid breathing. She was clearly upset. Finally, he asked softly, "Ada, you said you found me because you wanted my help. What are you here for, Ada?"  
  
She looked up at him. Leon was taken aback by how vulnerable she looked at that moment. Then, in a voice more pleading than Leon thought Ada Wong was capable of, she said, "Because I want out."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Claire looked out the front window for the eighteenth time. Leon should have been back by now. She had gone outside and noticed Chris's parking job, so she knew he was on foot, but still...he should have been back by now. She sat down on the couch and ran calculations on walking speed, idiots that bring a full cart into the express lane and grocery store clerks that think paper or plastic is a metaphysical debate. They all added up to an answer she had already reached - Leon should definitely be back by now. She tried distracting herself with a rerun of the Simpsons with poor results.  
  
Something was wrong. She could feel it.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Ada was leaning forward, elbows on her knees, her head resting on her interlocked hands. She hadn't meant to sound so pathetic and she told Leon as much. "I'm sorry. You know I'm not usually like this. Maybe it's you, Leon. I feel safe around you. Like I can let my guard down."  
  
I wonder if I can do the same with you Leon thought. Already, his anger towards her had subsided. Her story made sense, he believed she was telling the truth about Wesker. And he believed her about her current employers. Still, one thing bothered him.  
  
"How did you know where to find me, Ada?"  
  
"I was in town on business. The Company wanted me to check out an old storehouse of Umbrella's. It served as a way station between Raccoon City and the mansion in the mountains. I'm supposed to see if Umbrella left anything behind." Ada sounded bored just describing the mission.  
  
"Wouldn't have Umbrella cleaned that out a long time ago?"  
  
"Exactly. Ever since I was deemed healthy enough to go back to work, the Company's been sending me out on crap mission after crap mission. I think it's so I can prove what a good, obedient little girl I am. I haven't been there yet, though. I made a detour first. That's how I found you. I'm surprised you didn't see me there; you were searching the crowd so intently. I've been trailing you since."  
  
Leon knew instantly what she was talking about - the memorial service for Raccoon City. How had he missed her?   
  
Ada went on, "I saw your friend there first. The one with the ponytail?" She made a dismissive gesture. "Someone ought to tell that girl to get a new hairstyle."  
  
The mention of Claire made Leon wince. It wasn't Ada's condescending tone either. He suddenly felt guilty for just being here. He should be going back to the townhouse now. He had been gone more than long enough to arouse concern and he didn't want Claire worrying about him. One more question for Ada, then he would have her take him back to the grocery store parking lot.   
  
"You said you needed my help, Ada. What do you want me to do?"  
  
"Let me get you up to speed, Leon." Ada's eyes sparkled. Whatever she was planning, it was far more interesting than investigating an abandoned warehouse. "Umbrella has a facility in the Florida Keys. They weren't using it in Wesker's day, but he knew about. For the past two months, activity's picked up in the area. The Company's confirmed that Umbrella's set up shop."  
  
"How would they know that?"  
  
Ada put her hand on his shoulder. "You can be so naïve at times. Do you think I'm the only spy working for the Company? As I was saying, it's a standard MO. I've already made contact with a lab tech there via a chat room. In one week, I'm going down to Florida to meet him. I'll be his Internet fantasy come true. Soon, I'll take an interest in his scientific genius and weasel my way into the lab. I'll have the latest strain of the virus before he finishes reading his 'Dear John' letter." Ada seemed rather pleased with the whole deal.  
  
John - her last boyfriend's name Before he could stop himself, Leon asked her, "So, what are you going to do, sleep with this guy for the virus?"  
  
Ada's face turned icy. Leon thought she was going to slap him. "I'm not going to answer that and you are never going to ask me that question again." All the excitement had drained out her voice. Leon had hit an obvious sore point.  
  
"I'm sorry. That wasn't really fair," he said sheepishly. Ada calmed a little but said nothing. After an awkward pause, Leon continued, "So where do I come in during all this?"  
  
Ada glared at Leon before responding, "After I get the virus sample, I'm supposed to meet up with Wesker in Miami. I was thinking you and your friends could crash the reunion." She let the full implications sink in for Leon. "In exchange for my freedom, you get a virus sample that could bury Umbrella once and for all. In exchange for my freedom, you get Wesker on a silver platter."  
  
  
  
Author's Notes - Well, now you know what Ada's offer is. Hmm, I wonder if Chris will be interested? Two chapters down, ten or so to go. Hopefully, I can stay on track with a chapter a week. Interesting fact - positive feedback can be inspirational for maintaining a schedule (hint, hint). Next up - the gang goes over Ada's offer and Ada visits the (theoretically) abandoned storehouse.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. III

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
Chapter III  
  
  
Leon had been trying to think of the best way to explain Ada's plan to the others since Ada dropped him off at the grocery store parking lot. Less than three blocks away from the townhouse, he still hadn't decided on anything. He was leaning towards just telling them everything from the beginning even though he knew Chris would want to hear about Wesker first. The magic words "Umbrella" and "Wesker" inserted next to the phrase "take down" would have Chris on board with the plan without having to say anything else. Claire would be a tougher sell. Claire's opinion of Ada came from Leon's own doubts and anger of the last six months, and he had had a lot of both. But if he had changed his mind, maybe Claire could be persuaded. As for Jill, she could go either way. She usually went the way that had the most logical and well-thought out course though, and Ada's plan was still in the general idea stage. If both Claire and Jill were reluctant to go through with it, it might not happen at all. If he wanted to help Ada, he would have to be very convincing.  
  
Hard to do when you're not convinced yourself a small, inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Claire chided him. Leon dismissed the thought. Ada had explained everything; her story made sense. It wasn't like Raccoon City. She had told him up front that she was here on a mission for the same Company that employed Wesker. And she had a point. If Ada really was out to get Leon and the others, she would have done far more than drive him to the park for a nice chat. But at the core of it all was the fact that she needed his help. That was the reason he became a cop to begin with - to help people. And that was the same reason he had walked away from the force to fight Umbrella. So he would protect Ada. He had to. But who are you really going to be serving? the Claire-voice chimed in. He ignored it this time. He had enough problems without arguing with a nagging little voice in his head.  
  
Suddenly, the voice wasn't inside his head anymore. "Where the hell have you been?" Claire stood on the small stoop that served as a front porch for the townhouse. She had her arms crossed and was tapping her right foot. She was frowning too, but relief could be seen in her blue eyes.   
  
"Uh..." Leon started quietly. He sensed Claire wasn't really angry, but he knew that could change if he didn't handle this right. "I met someone - an old friend."  
  
"How nice for you. Meanwhile the rest of us are starving back here. And what do you mean by old friend? Did somebody find out where we are?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. You could say that." An annoyed glance from Claire told him he should just cut to the chase. Leon looked down at his shoes to avoid it, and continued on softly, "It was the woman I met in Raccoon City; it was Ada Wong."  
  
Leon looked up after Claire had gone several seconds without answering. Her expression had changed. She had disbelief on her face - disbelief mixed with worry and something else underneath them both. Something that Leon couldn't quite put his finger on. When Claire finally spoke, her words came out haltingly. "But, you said...you said she died...that she was dead...you left her in a building that blew up..."   
  
And then a memory came to Claire. Fighting the Tyrant creature, trying desperately to get power to the train that would take her, Leon and Sherry to safety, she had heard a voice. With the noise of the factory's self-destruct countdown and the monster, she barely made it out. She never saw the speaker. But after the voice, came a rocket launcher, so she was certain she hadn't imagined it. Claire focused on the voice. Was it feminine? Was it Ada Wong? She never actually met the woman and only knew what Leon told her. Was that something Ada would do? How had she even done it?  
  
"I know you're confused, Claire. God knows I was too when I first saw her." He moved a little closer to Claire and put his hand on her shoulder. He felt the need to be reassuring. "It's a long story, but Ada told me all about it and I have every intention of sharing it with you all. So let's just go inside with Chris and Jill and I can get started. There's a lot more to it than just Ada being alive. She needs my help and she has this mission coming up...Look, I'll tell you in a bit."  
  
Claire seemed assuaged; she nodded her head and turned to go into the house. Whatever questions she had, they were about to be answered.  
  
***  
  
Ada Wong threw her cell phone on the bed with a sigh. The Company demanded daily check ups from its agents and she had just finished with hers. Her contact had been especially inquisitive today. Ada chalked it up to the fact that she had yet to get to the abandoned Umbrella storehouse and nothing more. She informed her contact of her plans to go there tonight and he hung up satisfied.  
  
She only had a few hours to get ready. She had been able to convince Leon to come with her, both as a symbol of her new openness with him and to give them a chance to talk beyond the topics of Umbrella and Wesker. She was surprised how much effort it took on her part to get him to join her. After all, he had believed her so readily in Raccoon City. Ada admonished herself. She shouldn't be proud of that and she knew it. He was one of the few genuinely "nice guys" she had ever met and she had used him. It was no small wonder that he was leery of trusting her again. But she thought there was something more to it than "once bitten, twice shy." She suspected it had more to do with Claire Redfield than even Leon knew.   
  
She shrugged and thought no more of it. Whatever was between Leon and the Redfield girl was nothing she would ever be bothered by.   
  
***  
  
"And that's the gist of it." Leon finished his account of his meeting with Ada. Everyone had gathered in the living room to hear what he had to say. Claire and Jill were quiet, contemplative. Chris was pacing back and forth, predictably excited by this chance to end everything once and for all.  
  
"She knows for a fact Umbrella has a virus sample there? And she knows where Wesker is?" Chris said, not so much to ask Leon but to hear the statements aloud again. This is what he had been waiting for. This is what he had been sacrificing for. And now it was within a few weeks reach.  
  
Jill shook her head. She saw the hunger in Chris' eyes and it was scaring her. Rushing into a plan presented by an admitted spy wasn't her idea of good strategy. There were lives at stake here, not just theirs but the lives of future Umbrella victims should they fail to stop that corporation. And something just did not seem right to her. "Don't you think this is awfully convenient?" Chris glared at her but she continued, "I mean, we've been trying to dig up info on Umbrella and Wesker for the past three months with nothing to show for it. And now, out of the blue, Leon's - um, friend - shows up back from the dead, telling us we can get two birds with one stone. It's a little too good to be true."  
  
"Maybe we just finally caught a break," Chris countered, anger starting to creep into his tone. "Is it so unbelievable to think that things could go our way for a change?"  
  
"Chris, look at me." Jill held his gaze, hoping to calm him down and have him listen to reason. "I know this sounds like a great opportunity and it may very well be just that, but we cannot just risk everything on one gambit without thinking it through. First of all, I need to know how much we can trust this woman." Jill turned towards Leon then. He was the one who knew Ada Wong best.  
  
"I think we can" was Leon's meek reply.  
  
Jill stood up from her chair and walked over to the front window. "We're going to need more than that," she said, "A whole hell of lot more than that. Especially considering that when you walked out the door a few hours ago, you thought the woman was a giant liar that used you. What did she say at that park anyway that changed your mind so completely?"  
  
"I know." Leon responded. "And you're right, but I think I was wrong about her. It wasn't what she said but more like how she said it. She looked a little scared to me and this is a person I saw shoot down a pack of zombies without flinching. And she hates Wesker. That much is obvious."  
  
"Don't you think this 'Company' would train its agents how to act? She could have been putting on a little show for you, Leon." Chris, Leon and Jill looked at Claire. It was the first thing she had said since coming back into the townhouse.  
  
Surprisingly, Chris agreed. "We do need to know more about this woman. If she really is offering what she says she's offering, we need to get rolling with this ASAP. If she's not, we need to know now. If this is a set-up, we just find a find a way to turn it around on her and still get what we want. Either way, I need to meet this Ada Wong."  
  
"We all need to meet her," Jill added. She was still worried about Chris. He may have decided to proceed with more caution, but he was still taking things faster than she wanted to go. He was determined to make this pay off, one way or the other.  
  
"Okay, yeah, that's fair." Leon said. "I'll set something up with Ada when I meet her tonight. She's checking out that warehouse I told you about and I said I'd go with her."  
  
"Great, I'll join you. Gives me a chance to question the woman and maybe find something on Umbrella."  
  
"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea, Chris," Leon said carefully. "Ada set this up with me. She trusts me. I don't think she'd appreciate being ambushed by you."  
  
"No fucking way, Kennedy." Chris was adamant. "I'm not gonna let that woman sweet talk you into believing every word she says." Chris paused as Claire made a slight coughing sound. "I'm going to see this Ada chick for myself. And if I ask her questions she doesn't like, that's too damn bad for her. She's supposed to be desperate for our help, right?"  
  
"Yeah, she needs our help," Leon said, his voice getting louder. "But bullying her around isn't going to get us anything."  
  
"Excuse me," Jill interrupted, "But I think you both might be right. Chris, we shouldn't be pushing her hard. If she's telling the truth, we need to get along with her. If she's lying, we can't let her know we're suspicious." Chris said a profanity under his breath, but nodded his head towards Jill in assent. "And Leon," Jill continued, "Someone should go with you. You have a history with Ada that may cloud your judgement."  
  
Claire spoke before Leon could answer. "I'm with Jill. And I volunteer to be the one that comes along." Leon and Chris started to protest, but she cut them off. "Leon, you need a third party there. Chris, you're too wound up to be objective either. And Jill, apparently you're the brains of this outfit and we can't afford to risk you. So unless Barry can haul ass back from Canada in record time, that leaves me."  
  
Chris and Leon mumbled in complaint. Both finally agreed. Chris insisted that he at least make preparations for the mission and went down to the basement they had converted to a small but impressive armory. Leon excused himself and went upstairs to his bedroom, leaving Claire and Jill alone in the room.  
  
Jill watched Claire watch Leon go up the stairs. Aside from her speech at the end of the discussion, Claire hadn't been acting like herself since she found out about the return of Ada. Jill had to question just how objective Claire would be able to be herself.   
  
***  
  
Ada Wong hated to be kept waiting. It meant someone else was in control of her time. She checked her watch again and then went back to pacing in front of the tree that marked the entrance to the underground storehouse. She and Leon were supposed to have met fifteen minutes ago. He couldn't have gotten the directions wrong, she thought. His dumb, little friends are probably wasting my time asking him stupid questions.  
  
She took a bottle of water from the backpack she had thrown down beside the tree. It was unseasonably hot tonight and the Kevlar-lined bodysuit she had on wasn't exactly helping. She doubted she would need the extra protection the suit afforded but had decided to play it safe. Now she wished she had just kept on the Versace ensemble she had on earlier.   
  
She had drunk the entire contents of the bottle by the time Leon's jeep drove up through the deserted field. He had his headlights off to avoid drawing attention to the vehicle so Ada was unable to see his passenger until he pulled up beside her. Ada's mood did not improve when she saw Claire Redfield.  
  
"Oh, look, you brought a friend."   
  
"And some toys to play with," Claire responded, holding up a gun the size of her forearm.   
  
Ada was impressed. Claire had managed to threaten her in less than five seconds. She was still annoyed though and flashed Leon an expression that told him so. Claire she regarded with a haughty grin.  
  
Claire smiled right back. "We thought things would go quicker with another person. These Umbrella places can be pretty big, you know. Well, of course you would know." Claire emphasized the "you" just enough to convey her meaning.  
  
Ada's eyes narrowed. "If you insist on standing out here and tossing insipid barbs at someone, may I suggest this tree? I'm sure it'll be an opponent appropriate to your skill level."  
  
Leon let out a soft "ahem" and stepped between the two women. "I think we should just get started. Right, Claire. Right, Ada?"  
  
"Fine by me," Claire said. "Now if Ms. Wong would be so kind as to show us the entrance."  
  
"You're standing on it." Ada moved closer to the tree and pointed at the ground. "There's an entrance hatch underneath this section of sod. You should be able to pick the whole layer up." Her tone indicated she would not be doing the manual labor.  
  
Leon and Claire crouched down and felt out the ground. Claire found a seam in the grass. When she tugged at it, a four-foot by four-foot section of the earth moved. Rolling up the sod, a dull steel door built into the ground was soon revealed. Leon tried to open it with no effect. Ada was about to offer her assistance when Claire produced a long, silver lockpick and set to work. With a metallic click, the locking mechanism was soon released.  
  
"Jill's been showing me a few things," she said to Leon as she pulled back the door. A long ladder led down into the facility. Ada shined a flashlight down the opening but they couldn't see the floor from where they stood.  
  
After gathering up their things, the three descended one by one down the ladder and into the darkness.  
  
***  
  
The facility was fairly large as it turned out. According to Ada, It was split into four sections - two medium-sized storage sections to the left and right and two small office areas in the back. The trio decided to cover the ground more quickly by splitting up. Ada volunteered to take one of the storage areas. She took the one on the right, leaving the left to Leon and the offices to Claire.  
  
They went their separate directions three minutes ago and Claire still couldn't see the doors to the offices. Ada had explained the hallway to the back was as long as it was so Umbrella could put several seals between the biohazardous materials in storage and the place where the more important staffers of the facility actually worked.   
  
Walking down the hall, Claire could see the recesses in the wall where the containment doors were housed. Unfortunately, they were the only things to look at during her mini-hike. The hall was a plain cement color and the pale light of Claire's flashlight only made it look blander. With nothing to do besides walk, Claire began to think. Mostly, she thought it how odd it was that Ada would want one of the storage areas instead of the offices. It was much more likely that someone would accidentally forget to take a document with them than a lab specimen. Claire knew from experience the bizarre tendency Umbrella scientists had for leaving behind their paperwork. Maybe she doesn't actually care about finding anything Claire mused, or maybe she just didn't feel like walking down this Moebius strip of a hallway.  
  
Finally, the light from the flashlight reflected off a glass door. Claire looked through the glass, but could only make out the dark shapes of desks and chairs. Trying the door handle, Claire discovered it was unlocked and went inside. The office had been cleaned out. The room was big, but easily searched in a matter a minutes. Aside from the furniture, nothing remained - no books, no computers, no sign that anybody had been here recently. Claire sat on a desk and shone her flashlight around one more time for good measure. The light rested on the door to the second office for a while. Claire debated whether to go ahead and check it out or to just turn around and take the long trek back up the hallway. She didn't think she'd find anything, but thought she ought to do it anyway. She didn't feel like walking back here if Ada suddenly revealed the rear office was where the extra-careless Umbrella employees stored all the really important stuff. With a sigh, Claire hopped off the desk and walked over to the door.  
  
She only had the door open a few inches when the smell hit her. She put her left hand up to cover her nose and mouth. The smell was familiar, but not anything a sane human being would ever get used to. Then she heard the noise.  
  
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.  
  
Claire brought her gun up while backing away from the door. From the sound of it, there was more than one of the things in there. She continued to back up slowly, carefully avoiding desks and chairs. They didn't seem to be aware of her presence yet and that's how she wanted to keep it. Claire was smart enough to wait for backup before dealing with the creatures in a dark, obstacle-laden room.   
  
Ten feet from the outer door, Claire turned and broke into a run. Behind her, the shattering of glass and wood marked the entrance of the creatures into the room. She heard the distinct sound of their jumping and instinctively dodged to right. Even so, one of them managed to hit her in the side with a powerful sweep of its arm.   
  
Somehow, she was able to scream out the word "Hunter" in warning to Leon and Ada before falling to the floor.  
  
***  
  
Author's Notes - Sorry, no cat fight between Claire and Ada. Hope the general bitchiness was enough. Next up: hungry, hungry Hunters!!!   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. IV

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
Chapter IV  
  
  
Claire hit the ground with an ungraceful thud, but quickly recovered. She rose to her knees and brought her gun to bare in one fluid motion. The Hunter stood swaying before her, apparently thrown off-balance by her dodge. The shot to her side was simply luck on the Hunter's part. Claire wasn't about to let it get another chance. She fired two shots to its head in rapid succession, felling the Hunter.   
  
She had no time to celebrate her victory. The other Hunter was still in the room. She heard its breathing but couldn't make out its location. She remained crouched down, shuffling sideways as quietly as she could, trying to avoid the pooling blood of the dead Hunter while searching for the one that remained.  
  
The sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway caught the attention of both her and the Hunter. Leon and Ada were coming but Claire wasn't sure when they'd finally reach the office. The Hunter didn't want to wait for victims. It let out a screech and jumped across several desks before landing in front of the door. Claire calmly stood up behind it. The Hunter felt the pressure of a gun barrel on the back of its head and then the back of its head was sliding down the glass front of the door.  
  
Claire was nauseated, but relieved. She couldn't hear any more raspy breathing or thumping sounds. There were no more Hunters in the vicinity. She looked at the bodies on the floor. Claire couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. Those two hadn't put up much of fight as far as Hunters were concerned. Already, the pain in her side where the one had hit her had receded. A small bruise would be the only sign of the attack. It didn't make sense. Both Hunters had had a clear shot at her from behind, but only one really went after her. Not that she was complaining, but Claire felt she had gotten off rather easy this time. Too easy.  
  
"I see you've been decorating." Ada entered the room with a look of disgust on her face. The look deepened when she caught the scent coming from the rear office. She stepped over the Hunter's body as lightly as she could. Claire noticed her gun was still securely in its holster.   
  
Claire pointed out the lack of preparedness on Ada's part. "You were going to come rushing to my aid with what exactly? Acidic bon mots?"  
  
"I heard you yell 'Hunter' and then when I was in the hallway, I heard gunshots. Since Umbrella's monsters don't generally 'pack heat', I assumed that you were taking care of yourself," Ada said impatiently.  
  
Yeah, because you've shown you have so much respect for me and my abilities, you knew I'd be okay Claire sarcastically thought to herself. She didn't say anything more to Ada though. She didn't think it was worth it to get into a fight.  
  
Leon rushed into the room then. His gun was drawn, concern showed on his face. He looked from Claire to the Hunters and back to Claire again. "What the hell happened here?"  
  
Claire smiled to assure him that everything was all right. "I guess it's just a good day for old friends to drop in," she said wearily.  
  
Ada frowned. She wondered if Claire had deliberately compared her to the Hunters. Leon didn't seem to notice, but he did look to Ada.  
  
"I thought you said this place would be empty."  
  
"What?" Ada cocked her head to one side. She didn't detect an accusation in Leon's tone, but she didn't like the statement regardless. Not leaving an ambiguity in her tone, she said firmly, "I thought it was empty. Why would I have any reason to suspect there would be Hunters or anything else here? According to my sources, this place has been abandoned for months."  
  
"Oh, the section you volunteered to search was empty." Claire said it softly enough that all Leon and Ada heard was a mumble. When the two turned towards her, Claire just shrugged her shoulders. As much as she wanted to repeat it, Claire thought better of it. She didn't like Ada. She sure as hell didn't trust Ada. But she had to tolerate the woman for now and she figured she should try to do it with as much restraint as possible. Starting now.   
  
Foregoing the cynical remark she had planned, Claire instead tried to smooth things over. "We all thought there wouldn't be anything here. And, well, it looks like we were all wrong. I came up with two Hunters and whatever is making that smell in that office over there. Did you two find anything?"  
  
Leon shook his head no. Ada used silence as her reply.  
  
"Okay then." Claire pointed to the office behind her and asked, "Who wants to be the lucky one to play 'Name That Stench'?"  
  
Again, Claire was greeted by silence. Finally, Leon headed towards the remains of the inner door. Claire took a deep breath with her mouth and followed. Ada trailed her, looking less than enthused. After picking their way through shattered glass and splintered wood, they came to the source of the odor.  
  
It was a third Hunter. What remained of its body was in a state of decomposition. Large tracts of missing flesh ran up and down the corpse, surrounded by claw and tooth marks. With no other food to sustain them, Darwinian law had kicked in and the two stronger Hunters had eaten their weaker companion.  
  
Without a word, the three revulsed humans withdrew from the room to the more hospitable hallway. They were all thinking variations of the same questions - how had the Hunters gotten there and how long had they been waiting.  
  
***  
  
"It's me, Barry." Chris didn't get an answer. He knew it wasn't his cell phone's fault. "Come on, Barry..."  
  
"I heard you, Redfield. Fuck. What do you want now?"  
  
"You need to get back here."  
  
"I knew this wasn't a courtesy call. Jesus, Chris, I just got here an hour ago. I just can't head back."  
  
"We got a break, Barry, a big one. We can't let it go."  
  
"You're not hearing me. I just got home. I'm with my kids. I'm with my wife."  
  
"Then explain it to them..."  
  
"Fuck off, Redfield. You tell my girls why they never get to see their daddy."  
  
"We all have to make sacrifices..."  
  
"So says the man who gets to have his girlfriend and baby sister around him twenty-four seven."  
  
"We are in this together, Barry."  
  
"Together, huh? Is that why you're always giving orders?"   
  
"I don't have time for this shit, Barry. We've got an opening here. If we use it, you can spend all the time you want with your family. A few more weeks for the rest of your life, that's a damn good exchange."  
  
"Shit..."  
  
"Come on, Barry."  
  
"I'll be there in a few days."  
  
"A few days? I said..."  
  
Click.  
  
***  
  
"I'm starting to think Jill's on to something with that whole vegetarian thing. I mean, red meat's supposed to be so bad for you anyway. I hate seafood already and chicken's kinda bland..." Claire wasn't talking to anyone in particular. She just wanted to think of anything except the events of the last ten minutes.   
  
Unfortunately, Leon wasn't thinking of anything but. "I don't get it. What the hell would Hunters be doing here?" he said in frustration. "They had to of been here for awhile. The one in the office has been dead for days and the two Claire killed didn't exactly look like they were in great condition either."  
  
"No kidding," Claire agreed. "But I can't knock a gift horse and all that crap. Still, something seems really off about this whole thing. The Hunters must've been planted recently or they would have died of starvation. But it couldn't have been too recently or they wouldn't have gotten the munchies on their friend."  
  
For her part, Ada didn't seem to be listening. She was lost in her own train of thought. She had her theory about the origin and purpose of the Hunters. She just wasn't sure how much she should share with Leon and Claire. The Redfield girl didn't trust her - that much was obvious - but, if everything was going to go according to plan, she would eventually need change that. Claire had already taken a baby-step towards being civil to her, the least Ada could do was reciprocate.  
  
"The Company put them here," Ada announced.  
  
"Your company, not Umbrella."   
  
"Yes, Leon. My Company."  
  
"And they would do that because..."  
  
"Because, Ms. Redfield, I think they were trying to test me."  
  
Claire laughed. "And I thought finals were a bitch." She didn't know how to take this latest tidbit from Ada. Her instincts had been screaming "set-up" all along, but she hadn't considered that Ada may have been the one being set-up. She just assumed she and Leon were the ones being played. She was the one who got the room with the Hunters while Ada took the empty storage areas. But Ada hadn't known that she was going to be here tonight. And she hadn't been very happy when she first saw Claire either. Ada's mysterious Company may be powerful, but they certainly weren't precognizant. Claire had to concede there was a chance that Ada was right.   
  
Leon's frustration was growing. "Testing you? They toss you in a building with a bunch of Hunters and call it a test? What kind of sick bastards do you work for, Ada?"  
  
Ada was glad to hear the rage in Leon's voice. Not only did he believe her, he was being protective towards her too. "Yes, this was a test," she explained calmly. "The Company has no use for a weak field agent. It's a risk to them. I've already failed on one important mission and neither the Company nor I myself can afford to let that happen again. The Company was gracious enough to give me a second chance - something they just do not do for everyone - and they want to make damn sure that I can get the job done."  
  
Claire was taken aback by the matter-of-factness of Ada's tone. She could have been killed tonight, but she was acting like this was just some kind of performance review she needed to go through before getting a promotion. There was being cool under fire and then there was being a fucking iceberg. Claire was getting a distinctly Arctic vibe from Ada.  
  
Leon picked up on it too. Before, in Raccoon City, he had actually admired Ada's composed demeanor. In the face of the nightmare all around them, she never gave into fear. He thought it had been a show of how much she wanted to live. Panic in that situation meant death, so she had erected a cool façade to get her through. But listening to her now, rationally describing why her employers would try to kill her, doubts started to creep in. A few hours ago, she had seemed so vulnerable and open to him. There was no trace of that in the woman who stood before him.  
  
Ada noticed the shift in mood of her two companions. They were both looking at her now like she was worse than the Hunters. She knew they wouldn't be reacting that way if she was being emotional and weak about the situation. Ada found it ironic and annoying that a quality that had gotten her through her less than easy life would be getting her into trouble now. Sometimes, being so damned practical isn't very practical at all she told herself. But if they want pathos, I guess I have to give it to them.  
  
"I know it sounds horrible...no, it is horrible...but that's how these people operate." Ada said. A slight shakiness was added to her voice before continuing. "That's why I won't give you their name. That's why, more than anything, I want to get away from them. This is how I've spent the last six months of my life - living on the whim of a group of people who value money and power a hell of a lot more than human life. I'm sorry if I seem a little...cold...to you, but that's the only way I've been able to keep my sanity."  
  
Ada stopped, either unwilling or unable to say more. Leon, feeling guilty for having doubted her, went over to comfort her. "Come on," he said reassuringly. "Let's get a tissue sample from the Hunters and then just get out of here." Ada nodded her head in agreement. Her face had more color in it, her eyes seemed to shine.   
  
As Leon set to work on the bodies of the Hunters, Claire debated amongst herself if she had just witnessed a bit of humanity in Ada Wong or proof that the woman was more devious and calculating than she had originally given her credit for.  
  
***  
  
Jill stared at her phone. She wanted to make the call, but at the same time, felt doing so would be going behind Chris' back. Not that he hadn't already done that with her. She told him not to call Barry, that he should wait a few more days until they had more information on Ada Wong and her plan. She didn't see any point in dragging Barry away from his family if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Chris had said "Yeah, Jill. Sure", which she had interpreted as "Yes, Jill. I surely agree with your opinion". Then he called Barry fifteen minutes later.  
  
She made her decision. Chris was getting obsessed with this and needed someone to watch his back. So what if she had to go behind it to do it. Besides, if he caught her on the phone with the RLF, she could say she was just checking in with them.   
  
She hit their number on the speed dial. She let it ring five times, then hung up. She dialed again, this time letting it ring three times before hanging up. The third time she called, she got an answer on the first ring.  
  
"Password please."  
  
"Oh, for Christ's sake," she said in exasperation. "You do know this is how stereotypes about nerds get formed?"  
  
"Password please."  
  
"Which one is this? Dennis or Wayne?"  
  
"It's Clark, Jill." He sounded a little wounded that she hadn't recognized his voice.  
  
"Oh, Clark. Yeah, sorry I didn't know it was you. I've had a rough day." Jill thought she heard a sigh a relief on the other end of the line. "Listen, Clark. This is really important."  
  
"Everything we do is important."  
  
"Um, yeah, sure. Anyway, I need you guys to do an exceedingly thorough background check on someone for me. I'm talking the height of anal-retentiveness here."  
  
"Be careful what you wish for. You got a time frame?"  
  
"I need it in a couple of days." Jill hoped Chris would at least wait until Barry came back before agreeing to anything.  
  
"Oh, a challenge. That's cool. Wayne and I've been playing around the FBI..."  
  
"Please don't finish that sentence. I used to be sort of a cop, you know."  
  
"Yeah, but you don't give us attitude like that red-haired guy. So, what you got?"  
  
"Just a name, Ada Wong."  
  
"Is it too much to hope for that that's her real name?"  
  
"Probably. She works for some nameless evil company as a spy or something."  
  
"This just gets better and better. Physical description?"  
  
"I've never actually seen her, but Leon's described her to me. Dark hair, dark eyes. Slightly Asian looking. Medium height."   
  
"How vague."  
  
"If I see her, I'll take a picture and have her write her social security number on the back."  
  
"Get a copy of her driver's license too."  
  
"This isn't funny, Clark. I need to know everything about this woman that I can."  
  
"Life and death stuff, huh?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Leave everything to us."  
  
"Right." She hung up the phone not feeling any better than before. She was depending on the RLF now. Things were getting really desperate.  
  
***  
  
Leon and Claire drove back to the townhouse in silence. After leaving the facility, Ada had gone back to wherever it was that she stayed with a promise to call Leon tomorrow. Claire had wanted Leon to mention meeting with her brother to Ada, but Leon told her he didn't want to push her considering what had happened. That led to a small disagreement between the two that consisted mostly of sarcastic comments from Claire about how poor, widdle Ada had been so deeply traumatized. Thankfully, Ada had been getting into her Miata and hadn't heard any of it.  
  
They left soon after and hadn't spoken since. Leon sensed that something more than the Hunters was bothering Claire. He figured he might as well extend the olive branch. "I know you don't like Ada or anything, so I thought what you said back in the office was pretty big on your part. You know, when I was questioning her about the Hunters and you tried to..."  
  
"I know, Leon." She said quietly.  
  
"I trust her. I do. And I just think if you get to know her better, you will too."  
  
"You mean as well as you do? Cut the crap, Leon. I saw that look on your face when she was going on about her stupid Company. You thought she was this misunderstood soul who needed your help and the second she slipped into Ice Queen mode, you lost faith."  
  
Leon tried to explain. "It's complicated. Ada's a complicated person. You can't judge somebody like that just because they don't react how you would."  
  
"And you can't judge somebody because they wear a tight, black catsuit," Claire snapped back, a lot more harshly than she intended.  
  
After several attempts to form a cogent response, Leon gave up. He couldn't keep having this argument over and over, whether it be with himself or Claire. He had made his decision about Ada. Now, he just needed to believe in it.  
  
***  
  
Author's Notes - Ah, the real chapter IV. Sorry about the screwed up chapters. It's just when one sees an error message that explicitly states that the chapter did not upload, one tends to try to load again. Go figure. I'd like to apologize to my friends Clark, Wayne and Dennis for using their names for the RLF. They're not really nerdy conspiracy theorists, they just look like ones. Next up - Ada, meet the gang. Gang, meet Ada. And Barry complains some more.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. V

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
Chapter V  
  
  
Miss Cleo. No. Oprah rerun. God, no. Infomercial - the Ab-Doer. No, again. Living life on the run kept her in more than good shape. COPS rerun. No, but she remembered the night she and Leon got very drunk and came up with the R.P.D. version. Chris had thought it highly disrespectful. Leon had slurred out an incoherent argument in their defense and as soon as he had finished, threw up at Chris' feet to accentuate his point. It was the first time Claire ever saw Leon get drunk. It was also the first time she noticed that Chris and Leon really just didn't get along that well.  
  
It had been two nights since she, Leon and Ada Wong had checked out the underground facility. Chris had been furious when he heard about the danger his little sister had been in but had calmed down considerably when Claire handed him the Hunter tissue sample. Not having access to a lab, the group had decided to hand it over to the RLF and their murky but so far reliable resources to have them analyze it. Jill volunteered for the task, something which surprised Leon and Claire. Jill normally avoided meeting the RLF personally because of their "attachment" towards her. Chris had been too excited to notice.  
  
Claire returned to channel surfing. Weather Channel - Rainy and humid tomorrow. Chance of severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. Claire wondered how well a Miata handled in the rain. There were a lot of dangerous roads around here, you never could tell. Next. Three's Company rerun. A sitcom about a group of people who lived together, knew and cared about each other deeply but communicated solely through misunderstanding and innuendo. No, no, no.  
  
Claire threw the remote down in disgust. It was three in the morning and despite the best efforts of late, late, late night television, she wasn't about to get any sleep. Insomnia wasn't new to her. She had bouts of it on and off since her early teens. Usually she could take a few sleeping pills and be able to call it a night. When she went to the pharmacy the other day however, the only over the counter pills in stock bore the red and white symbol of Umbrella. She had almost forgotten that the company made something other than corpses.  
  
When Mr. Roper started making his "Jack's gay" hand gestures for the millionth time, Claire gave up and turned off the television. Jill kept a stash of Ben & Jerry's hidden in the basement freezer; if Claire was going to stay up all night, she decided to enjoy it. She put on a pair of sweatpants that badly mismatched her nightshirt and left her bedroom.  
  
She could see a light on in the kitchen. Apparently, she wasn't the only one with trouble sleeping. It wasn't Chris; she could hear the familiar sound of his snoring coming from his and Jill's bedroom. Maybe Jill had gotten sick of listening to it.  
  
As she walked down the stairs to the kitchen, she saw that it was Jill. The look on her face indicated that snoring wasn't the cause of her problems. She sat staring into the living room, absently eating from a pint of the coveted ice cream. Claire actually startled her a little when she spoke. "I was just coming down here to have some of that myself, you know."  
  
Jill scooted the ice cream away from Claire. "Sorry, last pint." She gave Claire a once over. "Nice clothes, though. I never would have thought to put that shade of green with that shade of orange."  
  
Claire did a little twirl to better show Jill her outfit. "Personally, I like the combination of lumpy cotton with silk. It says I'm sexy and delicate but not afraid to be a slovenly pig."  
  
"You really ought to write for Vogue."  
  
Claire elaborately rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm a Cosmo girl."  
  
Jill couldn't keep her straight face. She had been brooding all night. A bit of silliness with Claire was a welcome reprieve. She generously changed her mind about the ice cream and shoved the container over to Claire.   
  
"Phish Food?" Claire said as she picked out a chocolate fish. "I didn't think you ate seafood anymore."  
  
"I don't think the fudgy kind count, Claire."  
  
"Still, I better eat the rest of this. On principle, of course." Claire didn't even bother to get her own spoon before digging in. After a few spoonfuls, she asked teasingly, "You don't have any germs or anything, do you?"  
  
Jill pretended to be hurt. "Me? I haven't even so much as sneezed in months." Six months if Jill had actually been counting.  
  
"Clean livin', huh? Well, as clean as you can get living with my slob of a brother."  
  
The mention of Chris brought Jill back to her brooding. The past couple of days had seen the already fervent elder Redfield become increasingly more consumed by his pet cause of destroying Umbrella. Everything was about Ada Wong and her plan now. When would they meet her? When would Barry get back from Canada? When could they leave for Florida? When could he get his hands on Wesker? Jill just wanted to know when it would all be over.  
  
"You're worried about him, aren't you?"   
  
Claire's downcast eyes told Jill that she was worried about him too. "He's losing himself in this," was all Jill could say.  
  
Claire moved the spoon around the container, scraping up marshmallow and caramel. She didn't eat it though. She wasn't that hungry anymore.   
  
Jill noticed and apologized. "God, now I'm bumming you out too. I'm sorry, Claire. It's just...it's just I've never seen him this bad before. Even after the mansion incident. Chris, Barry, Rebecca and I worked twenty-four seven on finding out all we could about Umbrella, but we took breaks. We watched TV. We played poker. We talked to each other like normal people, not commanding officers giving orders. Barry called me and told me how Chris talked to him on the phone. Chris demanded that he come back. Not asked, demanded. And yesterday? What was with that ultimatum he gave Leon about setting up a meeting with Ada?"  
  
Jill could have gone on for a lot longer, but was interrupted by Claire pitching the ice cream into the sink. Not coincidentally, she did it right after Jill said Ada's name.  
  
"Having your own problems, I see," Jill commented.  
  
Claire slouched over the kitchen table with an exasperated sigh. "I just wish I knew exactly what my problems are."  
  
"This isn't about Ada and her plan. It's about Ada and Leon."  
  
"Yes...No...Maybe...Sorta...I don't know. I really don't. I mean I do, but I don't know why." She rolled her head over to look at Jill. "I'm babbling like an idiot, aren't I?"  
  
"I think it's understandable in the circumstances. Come on, Claire. I ranted on about your brother. It's your turn with Leon."  
  
"Hmm, where to begin?" It was a good question. Claire didn't have a good answer. She didn't have any answer at all.  
  
"Claire..."   
  
"He's my friend. He's my close friend. He's probably the best friend I've ever had. And I'm watching him get involved with a woman who seriously messed with his head before and who definitely has her own agenda now. I don't trust her. I can barely stand her. And I just can't shake the feeling that she's using him."  
  
"She admitted that she needs our help to get free of her employers."  
  
Claire snorted. "Oh, yes, The Company. The Oh-So-Fucking-Mysterious Company. You know, I half think she's pulling this out of her ass. She's not giving us their name because she hasn't made up a cool enough sounding one yet. This is all some giant scam and we're going to wind up getting screwed. All of us."  
  
Jill shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Claire's misgivings about Ada weren't that far from her own. The RLF hadn't been able to come with any information at all about her so far - no identification numbers, no aliases, no credit history, no employment history, no anything. They even did a check on the hotel that Leon said she was staying in. According to the hotel records, Ada's room was vacant. She was, as Clark called her, the woman who wasn't there.   
  
And they were all supposed to place their lives in her hands.   
  
For the next few minutes, the only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the kitchen clock. Both women were lost in thoughts they were sick of having to deal with.   
  
Claire got up and retrieved the ice cream. She gave it a few half-hearted pokes with the spoon before throwing it away. "Jill?" she asked thoughtfully, "Do you think I'm being paranoid? I know there really are men in dark suits out there; I've encountered them. I didn't imagine those Hunters either and Ada's explanation sounds as good as anything else I can come up with."  
  
Jill shrugged. She couldn't tell Claire something that she didn't know herself. She suspected Claire's concerns were more than just friendly, but let it go. They had dug around in the dirt long enough tonight and Jill was tired. She needed to go upstairs. She needed to get some sleep. She needed to get away from the nagging sensation that things were only going to get worse.  
  
***  
  
Leon was up and out the door before anyone else in the townhouse had woken up. He was to have breakfast with Ada this morning. They were going to set up the meeting with Chris and the others.   
  
If it had been up to him, he would have waited a few more days. It was selfish on his part, he knew, but the last two days had proven to be enlightening for him. Not about Ada's mission - she remained evasive about her employers - but Ada herself. He was learning the small details about her that transformed her from an intriguing enigma to a real woman with depth and warmth. His lingering doubts had been pushed out by discussions of her favorite movies and books, trips she had taken all over the world and, in a moment of true connection between the two, a little bit about her parents and her childhood. Slowly but surely, Ada's icy veneer was melting.   
  
Claire sniffed at the idea, but Jill was cautiously optimistic. Chris didn't give a damn if she turned into "Mother Fucking Teresa" as long as she quit stalling and met with him. Before he left to go home last night, Ada had admitted to Leon that she was, in fact, stalling. She said she had been enjoying herself too much. The chance to do something as ordinary as getting to know another person beyond vital statistics didn't present itself that often to her. She wanted it to last as long as it could. Especially since she liked everything she had learned so much.  
  
He had tried not to grin like a fool when she said that, but did a poor job of it. Ada had thought him adorable. To prove it, she had kissed him. A soft, quick kiss that served as a whisper of things to come. Then she had said goodnight and shut the door to her hotel room, leaving Leon alone in the hall with an even bigger grin on his face. He didn't mention the kiss to anyone when he came home.  
  
He was thinking about it now though. It had seemed so spontaneous but so natural. Ada wanted to do it so she did. There wasn't any agonizing over whether it would change things or if it was inappropriate. It was a simple thing to do. It was a normal thing to do. And, for a moment, it kept him from thinking about Umbrella, zombies, Chris Redfield's attitude and a million other things that pulled at him.  
  
But all the baggage was still there and it needed to be dealt with. As much as he was looking towards breakfast, he wasn't happy about forcing Ada to meet with the others tonight. He walked into the restaurant wishing Redfield would just learn some damn patience.  
  
He was momentarily cheered by the incongruity of seeing Ada sitting at the Denny's counter surrounded by blue-collar workers. She was impeccably dressed as always. She knew the names of just about every designed that ever lived and could pick them out of magazine at a glance. When Leon questioned the use of such a talent, Ada had jokingly called him a Philistine and then commented on men and their sports statistics. He didn't bother explaining why that was different because he knew she would just explain to him why it wasn't.  
  
One of the men beside her was making a valiant effort to hit on her. Ada nodded her in time to the story he was telling her while playing with a straw wrapper. She was on autopilot, not listening to the man at all but making a show of it. She was nonetheless relieved when Leon appeared. She kindly excused herself and went over to join Leon at a booth by the door.  
  
"Making new friends?" Leon quipped.  
  
"It must be the new 'open' me. People are just dying to meet me."  
  
It was a good a segue as he was ever going to get. "Speaking of meeting new people..."  
  
Ada finished the sentence for him. "Chris Redfield requests my presence. He's right really. I leave for Florida next week and we need to get the details nailed down beforehand. We'll meet at your place then."  
  
"No. They want someplace neutral. And someplace public."  
  
"In case this is a set-up, right? I understand. What have they suggested?"  
  
"The mall on Center Street. The food court."  
  
"Espionage and a snack? Lovely. So who will be in attendance? The Redfields, I presume and that female S.T.A.R.? Valentine, yes?"  
  
Leon didn't remember mentioning Jill to Ada, but he must have. "I don't think the roster been finalized yet. It may be just you, me and Chris."  
  
Ada turned the page of her menu. "Well, we'll just have to see."  
  
***  
  
The scenery passed by in a blur. Barry Burton wasn't watching it anyway. He sat in the back of the train, his luggage splayed over the seats around him as a message to his fellow passengers to stay away. In his hands, he was turning a photograph over and over again. It was taken two winters ago. His daughters were decorating the Christmas tree, coating it with layer upon layer of tinsel until the tree looked like it was wrapped in tin foil. His wife was in the corner of the photo. Her hands covered her face as she tried to keep the girls from seeing her laugh at their efforts. Barry was behind the camera.  
  
He tried to tell himself he wasn't leaving them behind. He was doing this for them. He was going to make sure that bastard Wesker wasn't ever even going to think of his family again. Once more into the breach and that would be it.  
  
This mission better damn well be on the level.  
  
***  
  
Jill's cell phone rang. After checking the number, she excused herself from Chris and Claire and went upstairs. She'd been waiting for this call.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Nice greeting, Jill. How are you today?"   
  
"I don't have time for sarcasm, Clark. Tell me you have something."  
  
"Uh, I'd hate to lie to you. Maybe we'd be able to find out more if we had a better idea of what we're looking for. I know you were kidding about the picture thing, but it might help."  
  
"Okay. We're meeting her tonight at the Center Street mall. But it's not like I can just take a candid with her. 'Oh, hey, Ada. Let's go take some pictures in one of those booths.' She's not going to buy that."  
  
"Tell us where you're going to be. We'll take the picture."  
  
"I'm not trusting the three of you to this. You'd probably hide behind one of those big planters and wind up knocking it over."  
  
"I should act offended, but yeah, you're right. I don't suppose you got another plan though."  
  
"I'm supposed to give you those cell samples sometime. How about tonight? If I get bored afterwards, I'll just go shopping."  
  
"See you at the standard time. I'll bring the telephoto lens."  
  
The line went dead. Jill tapped the cell phone again her leg. She was nervous. She was running out of time to find out about Ada. She wasn't sure how a picture was going to help, but it was all she had left. If Ada saw her at the mall spying on her though, it could ruin everything. She doubted Chris would be too thrilled to find out what she was up to either.   
  
At least Claire would be on her side. Christ, she thought, When did we start picking sides?  
  
***  
  
The line for Cinnabun was huge. Apparently everyone in the mall had a craving for vast amounts of cinnamon and sugar. Claire stood behind a young mother with two wriggly children and not so patiently waited her turn. In fifteen minutes, they would meet with Ada. She was glad for all the noise around her. She highly doubted Chris would be able to keep his temper and voice down.  
  
Right now, he was completing his third circuit through the food court. Leon was already sitting down at a table near a display of wedding dresses. He wasn't about to join Chris in his hunt for suspicious persons. Claire noted the irony of the change. Leon was being the cool, confident one while Chris paced around paranoid.   
  
She wished Jill were here. Why of all nights had she chosen to go meet the RLF? Why did she want to meet them in the first place? When she asked Jill, she told her to just trust her. The way she said it made Claire think that she was up to something, but she had no idea what it could be. She guessed she would find out eventually.  
  
There were only two more customers in front of Claire when Ada walked through the court. Leon went up to her immediately. Chris hung back, waiting for an introduction or checking her over. Most likely the latter. Claire decided she wanted a cinnabun really badly and pointedly stayed in line. Ada didn't pay attention to either Redfield. She did seem to be searching for something though.  
  
Chris noticed. "Looking for somebody?" he asked harshly.  
  
"I just wanted to see what the odds were," she said indifferently.  
  
"Come on, Ada, Chris. We're all on the same side here," Leon put in. He was going to be the mediator tonight. "Shall we sit? I picked a table that's out of the way enough to give us some privacy but still in full view of the public. Just in case." He glared at Chris on the last part, then gave Ada an apologetic look.  
  
Chris stomped off to the table. Leon made a gentlemanly "after you" gesture which Ada thanked him for before she followed Chris. Claire paid for her cinnabun and contemplated how long it would take Ada to get mashed in icing and dough out of her hair.   
  
"Will Miss Ponytail be joining us?" Ada asked as she sat down.  
  
"That's my sister you're making fun of bit-"  
  
"Yes, Claire will be joining us. So why don't we all just wait calmly for her, okay?" So much for mediation. Leon was going to be a full-blown peacekeeper tonight.  
  
"And Miss Valentine?"  
  
Chris didn't even blink. "Who?"  
  
Ada dismissed the question. "Fine, fine. Play your games. I did come here to talk seriously though."  
  
By this time Claire had joined the trio at the table. She said a factitious hello to Ada before setting to work on her cinnabun. It was time to get down to business.  
  
Chris started with a predictable question. "Where's Wesker now?"   
  
"In South Africa. You know the cliché about there being a cure for everything in the rainforest? The Company believes there's a disease for everybody there too. He'll be wrapping up a little research before heading to Florida."  
  
Claire threw down a chunk of bun in disgust. Typical Umbrella, or Company, bastards.  
  
Chris took the second question as well. "So how 'research' does your company have already? They obviously know how to make Hunters. What else do they have?"  
  
"They have everything Umbrella had when Wesker left his employment there plus a few things they've cooked up on their own."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
Ada drew the line there. "I'm not meeting with you to discuss the Company. We're here to discuss my mission - our mission - in Florida. We're after Umbrella and Wesker for the moment. I don't recommend taking on too much at once."  
  
Chris didn't like that. Leon and Claire slunk down in their seats in preparation of his response. He managed to keep his voice down, but the barely contained rage that seeped through his voice was somehow worse than yelling. "You came to us for help. You need us. So you do what you're told. You tell us what we want to here. Or you can crawl back to your bosses and keep being their bitch."  
  
Now Leon was livid. "For god's sake, Redfield. Do you think you could at least try to not be such an asshole?"  
  
"I was going to call her something else. I thought I was being polite."  
  
Ada stopped Leon from worsening the argument. Her voice was as placid as ever when she spoke. "You're partly right. I do need you. But I think you're missing an important point. Ours is a symbiotic relationship. I need you, but you need me as well. Do you really think a few cell samples from decaying Hunters is all you require to take down Umbrella? What about Wesker? You don't get him without my help. And you don't even know who my employers are."  
  
"You could remedy that last problem," Claire said.  
  
"I'm not prepared to do that just yet."  
  
Leon went back to his role as the impartial one. "Ada, we're not saying we don't need your help. We're not, Chris. But we really need to establish some kind of trust here. We'll trust you by going to Florida on nothing but your say so. Now you have to give us something in return."  
  
"Leon..."  
  
"Ada."  
  
"They operate under the guise of a chemical company in London. Their official products are fertilizers of all things. That's all I can tell you."  
  
A pack of teenagers walked by the wedding dress display. They saw the group but didn't hear anything they said. Two of the girls started a debate about who was cuter - the stern looking man with the close cropped brown hair or the redhead with the bangs. The consensus was divided when they passed by Jill Valentine and the RLF in their hiding place behind the magazine stand in the bookstore.   
  
***  
  
Author's Notes: Okay, that was a long one. Took forever to write too. Reading over it, I realized the Ab-doer infomercial is anachronistic. If we're sticking to the RE timeline, this takes place in early 2000. The Ab-doer wasn't inflicted upon us until spring this year. The only other infomercial for exercise equipment I could think of was Suzanne Summers' Thigh-Master and good god, we can't have two Three's Company references in the same chapter can we? For those of you who have no clue what Three's Company is - consider yourselves blessed. Next up: The plan is finalized. The triumphant (not really) return of Barry. And the RLF continues to hack.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. VI

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
  
Chapter VI  
  
  
  
Jill felt a headache coming on. A large, piercing one starting back behind her right eye and slowly spiraling its way around the rest of her brain. The situation had gotten completely out of control. A year ago, she never would have imagined herself spying on Chris like she had at the mall. She never would have deliberately kept things from him because she was afraid he wasn't acting objectively at best, rationally at worst. And she never would have spent five hours in the basement headquarters of the RLF listening to Wayne explain why "The Prisoner" was the greatest television show ever while his associates illegally searched through government data bases for a match to the photograph they had taken of Ada Wong.  
  
Clark had begun countering Wayne with the classic episodes of "The Outer Limits" when his attention was brought back to one of the several computer screens. It had stopped searching. It had a match.  
  
Jill rose from the RLF's dilapidated couch and made her way over to the workstation. The woman on the screen had shorter hair, highlighted with blond streaks, but it was definitely Ada Wong. It had to be.  
  
Clark read off the woman's file. "Okay, says her name is Miranda Chang - we'll have to check that alias - and that she was arrested two months ago at a protest outside of a chemical facility in upstate New York. Bunch of college kids got together to show their displeasure with this company's less the earth friendly waste disposal methods. It wasn't that serious - a couple of cops got some bloody noses, some protestors got a little more than that, but that was about it. This is only on government file because somebody made some bomb threats."  
  
Jill was confused. "What would Ada Wong be doing at an eco-protest? I don't think Umbrella would care enough about some whiny college students to have her infiltrate their group."  
  
"I hardly think they're 'whiny' but that's not the point," Wayne answered. "Did the plant have anything to do with Umbrella? Competitor maybe? She wouldn't be there without a reason."  
  
But none of them had an idea what that reason could be. Jill let the conspiracy theorists do what they did best while she speculated on her own. Two months ago, Ada wouldn't have even been working for Umbrella anymore. Two months ago.hadn't Leon mentioned something about Ada being in an infirmary for a long time after Raccoon City? Could Ada have even been there? Maybe the woman wasn't Ada Wong. Maybe it was and she had lied to Leon. That still didn't tell Jill why she was there.  
  
"Oh, shit." All eyes turned to Clark. After reading "Miranda's" file, he had already started checking into the incident.  
  
The look on his face made Jill's headache pulse anew.  
  
"I don't think this has anything to do with Umbrella. Not directly, anyway. I've got the arrest record of another person at the protest, the guy who organized it. His name's James Myers." Clark looked at Jill for emphasis. "You might have heard of him. He's a higher up in The Gaea Group."  
  
Two months ago. Or about two weeks after The Gaea Group had published its first article from "reliable sources" about the threat of Umbrella. At the time, Barry didn't think anything would ever come from the article.  
  
It looked like he was wrong.  
  
***  
  
"Um, Barry? You're kind of crushing me here."  
  
Barry let Claire go with a laugh. After his long train trip, he was so grateful to see Claire was the Redfield meeting him at the station that he had scooped her up in a bear hug when she had come over to greet him.  
  
"Sorry, Little Sister, but it's good to see a familiar, friendly face after staring at the back of a seat for hours on end."  
  
Claire let the "Little Sister" comment slide. She used to take offense to being referred to only in the context of being Chris Redfield's sister, but then she realized Barry only did it to tease her, knowing full well the effect it had on her. She figured it was Barry's way of letting her know he considered her one of them. She then teased him in kind for acting like a boy in a schoolyard around the girls that he liked.  
  
She did make a note of Barry's use of the word "friendly" though. Jill had mentioned that Barry hadn't appreciated his abrupt summons back to the townhouse. The train ride apparently hadn't improved his mood about it.  
  
She felt some kind of apology was in order, even if it wasn't from the one who should be giving it. "I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer with your family. This just came out of nowhere and it really could be the payoff we've been looking for. If everything works out, you could."  
  
"I feel a lot better about all this if you stopped using the words 'could' and 'if' so much," Barry said, interrupting her.  
  
Claire could only look at Barry sympathetically. Hadn't she and Jill just said the same thing the other night? "I think I'd feel a lot better if I stopped using them myself. But I can't," she confessed.  
  
"Shit. I knew this wasn't everything Redfield said it was. I want that asshole Wesker as much as he does, but I'm not willing to walk around with a fucking blindfold on to do it. What's Jill thinking about this?"  
  
"She not happy either. So much so, she skipped out on our meeting with Ms. Wong this evening. It was quite the night. After some deep soul searching - if Ada Wong does in fact have a soul - she actually managed to cough up some extremely vague information about her employers."  
  
"Big shit. Let me guess though. She gave you just enough so that you can feel like she's telling the truth, but not enough so that you have time to track down her employers and confirm it."  
  
"I'd say you were psychic, but that's pretty obvious." Almost to herself, she added, "To me and you anyway."  
  
Barry picked up on her disappointment. "I know where you brother's at. Kennedy with him on this, too?"  
  
Claire nodded. Barry shook his head as he picked up his bags. He had thought Leon and Claire had a sort of a "will they or won't they?" thing going on, but he had chalked it up mostly to the fact that Leon was the only guy Claire spent any time with that she wasn't related to and who was close to her own age. He hadn't thought Claire was really serious about the former.  
  
He needed to talk to Jill. She was the most level-headed. If she wasn't convinced, it would be for a reason. Her missing of a supposedly crucial meeting with Ada wasn't inspiring him. Neither was Chris's obsession with Wesker. And judging from Claire's reactions, Leon's motives were based more in his pants than on evidence. That's just plain scared Barry.  
  
"Fuck," he sighed.  
  
Claire nodded once more. That seemed about right.  
  
***  
  
It was late. Very late. Leon had a dozen reasons to be heading home right now, but only one to be staying. That reason poured him another glass of wine and offered him more of the odd looking appetizer things she considered snack food. These had black olives and some sort of pinkish paste on top of a small slice of rye bread in the shape of a daisy.  
  
"I don't supposed you have any chips or anything?" Ada gave him a look worse than the one she gave him when he asked if she any beer instead of wine. "You certainly do have your tastes, don't you?" Leon mused.  
  
"I appreciate the finer things in life. And yes, you should take that as a compliment." Ada said over her shoulder as she rummaged through the small hotel refrigerator. She came up with a bag of baby carrots. Leon shook his head no. "That's as mundane as I get, Leon. If you want, you can check the room service list to see if it has anything that's more your fancy."  
  
"Right, I'll order a couple of lobsters and topple the Company through outrageous hotel expenses," Leon joked.  
  
"Sadly, they're financed enough to write off the excesses of even the most extravagant employees. Such as myself."  
  
"A part of you likes this." Leon said it plainly and abruptly, surprising both Ada and himself.  
  
Ada sat down on the bed and folded her legs underneath her. "Do I like this?" she asked while waving her hands around the lavishly furnished room. "Do I like the luxury? The mystery? The danger? The power one can hold by never being quite who they seem?" Ada laughed to herself. The utter lack of humor in it worried Leon. "Of course I like it. But I hate being a slave much more."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"You're sorry? Why? You've been the one person I've met who actually gives a damn about me beyond what I can do for him. Without you, I'd be looking forward to a future of punching the Company time clock until something kills me."  
  
"Ada." He couldn't continue. He had already said too much. How could he have asked her if he liked this life? Her whole reason for being here was to escape it.  
  
"Leon, don't worry about me. And don't ever feel sorry for me. I'm chosen my life, now I have to deal with it. And maybe, starting with this mission, make amends."  
  
"We want to help you."  
  
"You want to help me. Everyone else wants Wesker. I don't hold that against them. I'd be reacting the same way if the roles were reversed."  
  
"I don't know how you can be so understanding. I half expected Chris to lunge over the table and start choking you."  
  
Ada laughed again, this time with warmth. "I'm glad you're concerned about me, Leon. It's been a long time since I've had that. But it works both ways. I don't want to alienate you from your friends."  
  
"Chris and I have never been the best of friends."  
  
"And Claire Redfield?"  
  
"Claire?" He could write a book on Claire and still not be able to fully describe what was between them. A few words to Ada couldn't begin to convey that relationship. "It's.uh, well we're friends - close friends. We."  
  
Ada held up her hand to stop him. "I think I get the general idea. What about Jill Valentine? How has she been reacting to the situation at hand?"  
  
"Jill's.leery. It's nothing personal. She's just suspicious by nature. At least she has been since all this Umbrella stuff started."  
  
"Yes, she's been changed by Umbrella." Ada shifted on the bed, bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her head on her knees. "We all have."  
  
***  
  
Claire and Barry beat Jill home by a few hours. They spent that time rehashing everything they knew so far with Chris in a tense conversation punctuated by Chris's adamancy, Claire's doubts, Barry's complaints and a hefty dose of profanity from the two men. Claire kept her curses to herself.  
  
"And this doesn't stink at all to you?" Barry asked.  
  
"Oh, it reeks," Chris conceded. "But even it is all a trap, we're still getting close to the people in power."  
  
"What a great consolation that'll be right before they kill us."  
  
"I'm going to play it safer than that, Barry. I'm not stupid. I don't trust that Wong woman as far as I can throw her and I'm planning this out accordingly. I'm not going to just follow her orders."  
  
Barry grunted. "But we're just supposed to follow yours."  
  
Jill picked that moment to walk through the front door. The anger in the room was palpable. Claire was off to the side, nearly in the kitchen, with her arms crossed and mouth shut tight like she desperately wanted to say something but knew she shouldn't. Barry and Chris were exchanging glares.  
  
Jill didn't exactly anticipate dropping a new bombshell on them.  
  
Especially on Chris. He was already fuming. "Where the hell have you been? How long can it take to drop off a cell sample?"  
  
It was time to come clean. "The RLF and I took a side trip - out to the mall where you met Ada tonight. They wanted to get a photo of her so they could compare it ones in government databases. I've been having them do a background check on her. I would have told you sooner, but I didn't want you to think I was questioning you or going behind your back."  
  
Chris threw his arms up in the air. "This is fucking unbelievable. You'd think I'd give a damn that you wanted to check out Ada Wong? You really thought I would care? Christ, Jill, I don't like the woman either. Why would you think I would get pissed off at you for trying to cover our backs?"  
  
"Well," Jill said sharply. "It's been a little hard to tell lately what will set you off and what won't. If, there actually is anything that won't."  
  
"And hiding things from me? What the hell is that supposed to do?"  
  
"I didn't want to get you worried unless I was sure there was something to be worried about."  
  
"Bullshit. That's not what you said ten seconds ago."  
  
"I'm sorry, but I was doing what I thought was right. You haven't been acting yourself about this and given how angry it's getting you, you can understand why I might be inclined to proceed with caution around you."  
  
They kept going, finally giving voice to all the frustrations that had been building not just since the appearance of Ada Wong, but since they first stumbled upon that mansion in the mountains. Having it out could be considered healthy for Chris and Jill, but Claire and Barry were finding it uncomfortable. Claire had retreated fully into the kitchen. Barry was sidling slowly in that direction. Barry Burton was a big man with lethal combat training who had employed said training on more than one occasion, but he knew better than to get between a couple in a fight as heated the one raging now.  
  
When he finally made it to the kitchen table, he sat down with a sigh. "When did it get this bad?"  
  
"I wish I knew. Then maybe I could fix it. Fix him." Claire glanced at her brother. He was saying something about trust.  
  
"I know your brother. I know his intentions are good here. But you know the saying about the road to hell."  
  
"We've been driving that route for months now. And I haven't seen any off- ramps."  
  
"You want to know what the worst thing is? I'm hoping like hell that this thing pays off. That we really can end this in one shot. As much as I've been arguing with Chris about it, I want to believe like he does that is for real. Or that we can make it for real."  
  
"Barry Burton, an optimist? Surely not." The truth was she had made the same wish herself. But something Jill had just said stuck out in her mind - that she hadn't said anything to Chris because she didn't want him to worry unless there was something to worry about. Did that mean the RLF had found something out?  
  
Claire jumped out of her chair and over Barry's warnings, approached Jill. "What did the RLF come up with? They found something out, didn't they? Come on, tell me, Jill."  
  
Chris nodded his head in encouragement, the fight forgotten more quickly than it started.  
  
"Right. The photo we took at the mall." Jill started hesitantly. She never liked delivering bad news. "They matched the photo up with a woman who was arrested at an environmental protest. The protest was organized by the head of the Gaea Group. It was held shortly after they ran the article about Umbrella. The timing is too close to be a coincidence. And I can't think of a good reason why Ada or her employers would care about the protest itself."  
  
"So she's been tracking us for two months now." Claire concluded.  
  
"Tracking us for two months," Chris said, "but she didn't find Leon until recently. Either it took her awhile to pinpoint where we were or she's been biding her time."  
  
"I thought you told me she found you all at the memorial service for Raccoon City. Maybe her lead on the Gaea Group didn't go anywhere and it really took her that long," Barry offered.  
  
"Of course, that doesn't answer the question why she was searching for us."  
  
"Or, Jill," Chris added, "Who told her to start searching."  
  
"Okay, so all we know now is that she has been looking for us," Claire summarized. "She knows we're affiliated with the Gaea Group and she used that to try and get to us. But that failed or else the men in suits would have been after us already. Then again, maybe it didn't and she's plotting something with her company."  
  
"Or maybe she's known where we were all along and never turned us in because that's the kind of person she is." Everyone turned to Leon, who was standing at the threshold of the front door. They had been so engrossed in their discussion, they hadn't heard him return. He was making his presence known now. "What is it going to take for you people to trust her? She's been here for how long now without anyone from the Company showing up? If she was really selling us out, what the hell could she possibly be waiting for? She knows we're all here. She knows what we intend to do."  
  
"How much did you hear, Leon?" Jill asked. "Did you hear that she's been tracking us for the last two months?"  
  
"What difference does that make? She wanted to find us so she could help us."  
  
"You mean help herself," Chris said. "And are you trying to tell me this woman had this whole thing with Wesker set up for that long and has been desperately trying to find us just so she could hand him over? You'd think people dealing in covert operations like this company would keep a tighter lid on their employees itineraries."  
  
Claire, sensing the start of yet another fight, felt like she wanted to scream. So she did. All talk stopped and Claire became the center of attention. She took a few seconds to collect her thoughts. "Okay, now that you are all listening, I think we need to settle this once and all. We should meet with Ada again. We confront her about the protest. We listen to her answer. We make her give us a name beyond "some company in England" for her employers. If she doesn't talk, we walk. If she does talk, we call the RLF and see what they can come up with in an hour or two. They'll appreciate the challenge. After we have all the information, we meet without Ada and discuss in a calm, rational manner and make a final decision. Because I am sick to death of hearing the same arguments over and over. We commit one way or the other and that's it. We're committed. If it's a go, we review the plan with Ada and hammer out the details. Does that sound like something we can all live with?"  
  
"And I'm supposed to be the bossy one," Chris said sarcastically. Catching a glare from Claire, he answered more seriously, "Yeah, that sounds fair to me. Everybody else?"  
  
The rest of the group nodded. At the very least, they were taking a step forward.  
  
They left the room one by one. Jill headed up the stairs alone as Chris went towards the basement. Leon went up to his room soon after. Neither of the three said anything.  
  
Barry gave a yawn and announced to Claire he'd be retiring too. He hadn't been able to sleep much on the train. Before he left, he said to Claire, "Nice work, little sister. With you calling the shots instead of Chris, I feel better about this already."  
  
At first she thought he was kidding. But after everything that had been said tonight, she realized just how serious he was.  
  
***  
  
"All right, the gang's all here. Let the interrogation begin." They were back at the mall again, having been unable to come up with a better meeting place. As Ada had said, all were in attendance.  
  
"Ada," Leon admonished, "I don't think this is the time to be derisive."  
  
Chris agreed. "No, it's not. We ask you straight questions, you give us straight answers."  
  
"Fine. Ask away."  
  
Jill started the questioning this time. "Why were you at an environmental protest in New York two months ago?"  
  
Ada didn't act surprised by the question. "That was my first mission after being released from the infirmary. The Company wanted to give me something easy to start with. The man that organized the protest had posted an article on the Gaea Group website about Umbrella earlier. The Company wanted me to check him out and see what information the man, or should I say the man's sources, had. It was easy enough to guess who he was quoting. There are only so many people who have gone against Umbrella and lived to have a nice article about it published. You all should really be more careful."  
  
"So the Company knew it was us. Why didn't they come after us then?"  
  
"The Company knew it was you, Jill, but they didn't know where you were. You were apparently smart enough not to give out your home address. I determined Myers didn't know anything and his little enviro-groupies knew even less, so I moved on to the next mission. Sorry, but you five aren't high priority enough for the Company to waste resources digging deeper."  
  
"Wait a second," Claire interrupted. "Your company approached both Leon and me and now you're saying they don't think we're important?"  
  
"No, they approached you because they knew exactly where you were. And that was before the fiasco at the island and Antarctica. After that, the Company figured you all were doing them a favor by screwing over Umbrella. You do have a penchant for blowing up their expensive facilities."  
  
"What about Wesker? He was there too. He went after both Claire and me then. If the Company didn't care, why would he?"  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, Mr. Redfield, Albert Wesker is an asshole who holds personal, petty grudges. You and your sister are on his list. That's why he attacked you. His real business was always with the Ashfords. You were only a fringe benefit."  
  
"So why did they send you to the memorial service if they didn't care about finding us?" Claire asked.  
  
"As I told Leon, they didn't send me. I was in the area to check out that underground storehouse. I went to the service on my own. It was serendipity that I saw the three of you there. I wanted out before then, but didn't know how to do it. Between seeing you and the upcoming rendezvous with Wesker, everything fell into place."  
  
"Yeah, we've noticed how convenient everything is," Barry grumbled.  
  
"Sometimes, Mr. Burton, good things come to those who wait." Ada folded her hands on the table. Clearly, she thought she was in control of the situation.  
  
Chris was of another opinion. "The name of your employers. Full name. I don't want to hear some code name or fake dummy company name."  
  
"I thought I told you."  
  
Leon placed his hand over Ada's. "I'm sorry about this, but we need to know. We're in enough danger as it is, we can take on a little more. You don't have to worry about that. We need to hear this. Give us one more show of good faith."  
  
"Leon." Ada looked around. Jill's face betrayed no emotion. Impatience showed on Chris and Barry's. Ada thought she saw disappointment in Claire - disappointment that had nothing to do with the Company's name. And Leon.the sincerity of his concern in and of itself was almost enough to get her to reveal the information. Everyone taken together convinced her to go ahead. "All right. You want it, that's fine. But I can't warn you enough to not mess with these people. I take no responsibility for what may happen to you or your associates."  
  
"Cut the drama queen bullshit, lady," Barry said. "And just give us the damn name."  
  
"I'll give you two. I apologize, Mr. Redfield, but dummy names and code names are all the Company has. Branford & Locke is the official public name. The majority of it really is a legitimate chemical manufacturer, much like Umbrella. The sub-department that handles the less than legal dealings is the oh-so-imaginatively titled Department 12. Or, as it's referred to by all its employees - the Company. That's all I can tell, because that's all I know. I don't know the level of involvement the owners of Branford & Locke have with the Company or even if they know about it. I report to Wesker and another man in the department whose name I've never been given. As for the other employees, I only have contact with them when a mission demands it. I can't give you any names there either. I only know Wesker's from his Umbrella file."  
  
Jill couldn't believe it. "How do you function without knowing anything about the people you're working with? How can you rely on each other?"  
  
"The first thing you learn at the Company is that you can rely only on yourself," Ada explained. "But we do know some things about each other - amount of combat training, special skills, level of clearance, that sort of thing. Absolutely nothing personal beyond the impressions we form of them. To drive the point home, we're identified by numbers. I'm number 2328."  
  
Barry shook his head and mumbled a curse under his breath. If Chris felt any sympathy for Ada the coldness of her employers, he didn't let on to it. "Jill, call the RLF. Have them verify as much as they in the next two hours." He got up from his chair to leave. Addressing Ada, he said, "Leon will call you when we're ready to give you our decision."  
  
He left and the others quickly followed after him. Except Leon. He lingered behind to say goodbye to Ada and to ask how she thought things had gone.  
  
"I think things went exactly as I thought they would," she answered.  
  
***  
  
Have you confirmed the target's location?  
  
Affirmative.  
  
Can we obtain target without incident?  
  
Negative. Target and associates are capable of posting resistance. We cannot risk target being injured.  
  
Understood. Recommendations?  
  
Proceed as planned.  
  
***  
  
Author's Notes - Heh, to think I planned on posting this once a week once. Ah, ambition. Anyway, I'm very sorry it took me so long to post this. I had no idea several months had passed since the last update. I just lost track of time, I guess. Bad Aerika, bad. I WILL finish this story. I can't say when, but it will happen. Many thanks to those who have urged me to get off my butt and start it again.  
  
Next up: The plan's finalized (for real), the gang heads to Florida and Jill reaches out to the Spanish community. 


	7. VII

The Woman Who Wasn't There  
  
Chapter VII  
  
  
  
"They should have something by now," Jill said for the fourth time in the past half-hour.  
  
Claire looked up from the copy of Cycle World she was reading to give Jill a reassuring smile. Then she went back to the magazine. She'd much rather be distracted by an article than fidget impatiently waiting to hear back from the RLF. So far, the only information the group of hackers had given them was that the coding on the Branford & Locke official website sucked and the design was cliche and stale. They swore they we on the verge of getting into the good stuff – they only had a firewall or two to go – and then they would be able to tell them how much the company spent on toilet paper last year. Both Claire and Jill were grateful Chris wasn't the one who had taken that call.  
  
Claire didn't know where her brother was now. She presumed he was out stalking around the mall, sorting out his thoughts or maybe checking to see if Ada had brought along any friends. Jill hadn't made any attempt to follow him. She sat with Claire in the bookstore, rifling through magazines without reading a word and drinking more cappuccino than an already edgy person should. It was Claire's turn to observe that Jill's problems had less to do with this mission than with her man.  
  
Jill tossed her collection of magazines back on the rack. They stayed there for a moment, then they all slid to the floor in a flurry a subscription cards. A clerk behind the counter coughed in a manner that suggested that Jill ought to clean that up or else someone was going to spend the rest of his shift complaining loudly to his fellow employees about what pigs customers are. Jill glared at him briefly to let him know she planned on doing it anyway. Claire buried herself in her magazine.  
  
"Fuck!"  
  
That brought Claire back around. Jill's use of profanity was rare and, as such, to be taken seriously. "Having problems?" she asked.  
  
Jill held up her thumb. "Paper cut. Because today wasn't quite annoying enough. At least it's not bleeding."  
  
"You'll live. But, uh, I wasn't exactly talking about your thumb."  
  
Jill continued picking up the magazines.  
  
"Come on," Claire said. "You listen to me. I listen to you. That's how it works."  
  
"I know, I know. But I feel like an idiot. I've been so worried about Chris lately, that I go out and do something to tick him off. I should have known he wouldn't care about checking into Ada, but I didn't trust him."  
  
"He'll get over it…once we get through this. And really, Jill, with the way Chris has been acting, I probably would have done the same thing."  
  
Jill murmured a "hmm" in response. She appreciated Claire's attempt to comfort her, but hearing that eventually things would work out wasn't doing much for her right now. It just made her want this mess over with even more than she had before.  
  
Fortunately for her, the RLF was complying. Her cell phone rang. She answered it with a curt, "Yeah, so?"  
  
Wayne's voice answered back. "Why good day to you too, Jill. May I ask how you are doing?"  
  
"Wayne. Information. Now."  
  
"Sheesh…" Without further protest, he proceeded to tell her everything they had dug up on Branford & Locke. Jill would have liked to hear more, but even she had to admit what she had heard was good enough.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Claire asked after Jill got off the phone.  
  
"I think," Jill announced, "We're going to Florida."  
  
***  
  
They assembled once more at the food court. Ada wasn't there this time, having going back to her hotel room to allow the group to make their decision without her presence tainting the discussion. As she had told Leon before she left, she was confident the RLF would find out the truth and vindicate her.  
  
Her prediction appeared to be dead on. Jill looked substantially more enthusiastic than she had before the first meeting had adjourned and Claire looked a little less annoyed. As she was the one who had actually taken the call from the RLF, Claire let Jill explain their findings.  
  
"Okay, first off, they found out what they could about the legitimate company, Branford & Locke. Yes, it is a chemical company. Yes, their main product is artificial fertilizers. That doesn't seem like much, but Clark, the chemist of the group, confirmed that some of the components they use could be combined into things that aren't so nurturing to life. But that's not the main thing. They were able to hack into the payroll and accounting systems. It seems Branford & Locke employs a lot more people than it needs to and, after running checks on some random names, not all of those people are quite who they say they are. As for the accounting stuff, they found a general ledger that explained company finances all nice and neatly. Then they dug a little deeper and found another set of books that read completely differently. Large chunks of money come in and go away mysteriously. Funds get transferred to areas where Branford & Locke has no official business. None of these transactions have anyone's name or any kind of explanation on them. Of course, none of this in and of itself proves anything, but if you take this company's suspicious activity along with everything Ada told us…well, her story does seem to check out. Anyway, the RLF said it would keep looking and let us know if they come up with anything else."  
  
"Damn, those little geeks do know their shit." That was the closest thing to admiration Barry had ever expressed for the trio.  
  
Chris didn't let on he was impressed, but relief and anticipation were in his voice. "She's for real then. The deal with Wesker is for real."  
  
Leon passed on the "I told you so" that was within in his rights. He was just happy to know the others were starting believe Ada.  
  
Most of the others. Claire's response was to say, "Kinda looks that way."  
  
Jill felt she owed her some support. "Before we make our final decision, I think we need to play Devil's Advocate and look at this from all angles."  
  
"You mean," Barry asked. "Is if this info really proves Ada's telling the truth?"  
  
"Right," Claire offered, "It could've been planted where the RLF could find it."  
  
Chris shook his head. "The Company only knows about our affiliation with the Gaea Group, not the RLF. Nobody's a hacker in the Gaea Group. We're not hackers. Why plant information you don't think your enemy is capable of finding?"  
  
"Maybe it's a standard defense strategy of theirs." Claire felt like she was grasping at straws, that Leon's old paranoia had seeped into her and was making itself known with a vengeance. It made no sense for a company with nothing to hide to create the illusion that it was, in fact, hiding something and she knew it. On the contrary, every explanation Ada had ever given was perfectly logical, every morsel of information she doled out backed up by the facts they uncovered. The only thing left to Claire was a nagging sensation that everything fit together too neatly. Ada's theory of serendipity just didn't ring true.  
  
Thankfully, nobody bothered to point out the holes in Claire's argument. Leon focused instead on patching up any that might be found by the constant poking this group was capable of doing in Ada's side of the story. "Okay, Ada comes to me with an offer. She takes me and Claire into an Umbrella facility we never even knew about and that winds up netting us a Hunter cell sample. She spends a week here while we talk and talk and talk this out. When pushed, she gives up the real name of the Company. Research by the RLF supports everything she told us. And the entire time, there has never been any sign of the Company. Believe me, I've been checking and I know you have been too, Chris. I know none of you think I'm the most objective person when it comes down to it, but, really, what explanations are there, within reason, for everything I just said other than Ada is telling the truth?"  
  
Even Claire was unable to think of anything. Finally, after a long, awkward silence, Chris made the pronouncement that had been a week in the making. "Leon, call Ada Wong. Tell her it's a go."  
  
***  
  
For the first time, Ada was invited to the townhouse. As a whole, the group had decided to extend their trust enough to let the woman into their home. As individuals, there was some dissension, the majority of it from Claire. Barry put in his two cents, but it was more for solidarity than out of any doubt on his part. Much as he liked to mock the RLF, the information they came up with had been enough to sell him on the plan. Claire had grudgingly conceded that at least the townhouse was better than the food court.  
  
As usual, Chris began the proceedings. "Okay, Wong, what's your schedule?"  
  
Ada reclined slightly in her chair and took a sip of water she had requested before starting. "I'm to go Miami this Friday and meet my contact from the Umbrella lab in the evening. He has the weekend off. Over the course of said weekend, I'm to let him know I'd like to spend more time with him and go back with him to the Keys where the lab in located. I have until about Wednesday afternoon to get myself into the lab. Wednesday, 11:30 PM back in Miami is when and where I'm to rendezvous with Wesker. I don't have the exact location yet; he's to call me with that. The 11:30 PM is just to let my know I'm working in a very tight timeframe."  
  
"But Wesker will definitely be in Miami?" Jill asked.  
  
"I don't know when he'll get there, but yes. Knowing how the Company operates, he'll probably arrive at 11:25 PM."  
  
"Any chance he'll get there earlier?" Jill continued with the questioning.  
  
Ada shrugged. "He shouldn't, but Wesker's a rogue. He tends to do things how and when he wants to do them. If his past results weren't as good as they are, that might not be the case, but the Company isn't about to berate the man that gave them almost everything they know about Umbrella just because he can't follow a schedule. But to anticipate your next question, Ms. Valentine, Wesker will not, under any circumstance, tell me where's he's going to be until he has to. So even he does arrive early, we have no way of knowing."  
  
"I don't suppose he'll be staying at the same location you are," Chris said.  
  
"That's not Company policy. The only time we'll probably be within a mile of each other is the actual meeting. I don't see that lasting for more than five minutes. I'll hand over what I have and we'll go our separate ways. The Company will contact me if it needs anything further. It seems you have a very tight timeframe as well."  
  
Chris exhaled sharply. "In other words, the five of us need to hang out Miami, just waiting for Wesker to show. When he does, he'll give you a quick call and you have to haul ass to wherever it is he specifies. We'll have to haul ass too, because he's only going to be there for five minutes at the most and if we miss him, all of this crap is for nothing. Miami's a big city, with a shitload of people in it. If he gets away from us, I don't see us tracking him down easily if at all."  
  
"So stay near where I'm staying. I'll let you know as soon as he calls where the pick-up spot will be. If I can make there, so should all of you."  
  
"Oh, right," Claire put in sarcastically, "We'll stay at the same hotel as you. I'm sure the Company won't find that suspicious at all."  
  
"I told you, the Company doesn't consider the lot of you to be a priority. They're not actively looking for you. But all the same, no, you shouldn't stay at the hotel and I certainly hope you are all smart enough not to register under your real names or known aliases. Miami's a big tourist city. There are hotels everywhere. Private homes people rent out to vacationers. I shouldn't think it will be that hard to find a place that's close."  
  
"I'll call a travel agent right now."  
  
"Claire," Barry warned. He sympathized with Claire, but now that they had chosen their path, they should try to tread it as lightly as they could. Picking cat-fights with Ada Wong would not be productive.  
  
Ada didn't seem to care one way or the other. "You should set something up as soon as possible. I'm sure the Miami tourism board would do its best to accommodate you, but I think you're better off going through more private channels. Maybe your little computer friends can find you a nice bargain over the internet."  
  
Once again, Leon stepped in as peacemaker. "I think using the RLF would be a good idea. They can set everything up anonymously."  
  
"Fine," Claire relented. "Just as long as my alias doesn't sound like a Bond girl again." That had been a fun moment at the supermarket when she had used the first credit card the RLF had given her.  
  
"Okay, people," Chris announced as he got up from his chair. "We've got until Wednesday to get to Florida, but I think we should go a little sooner. Wong will go there in two days; I don't think we should trail that much behind her. Jill, have the RLF set something up for Saturday. It's a big travel day, we'll blend in with all the other tourists. Everybody good?" He looked directly at Claire when he said that.  
  
"I'm great." She looked directly at Leon when she answered.  
  
***  
  
Leon walked Ada out to her car. It was a gentlemanly gesture that had the added bonus of getting him out of the townhouse and away from that look Claire had given him. It wasn't the hostility towards Ada, but the disappointment buried deep within her eyes that had him running guiltily away. He was Claire's friend; he should have backed her up instead of arguing against her. At the very least, he owed a private talk to explain to her why he believed as he did. Bickering in front of the others, in front of Ada, seemed like a violation of the bond they had formed.  
  
And yet here he was, chatting over inconsequentials in the driveway with Ada while Claire stewed inside.  
  
Perceptive as always, Ada sensed Leon was more than a little distracted. As smoothly as always, she moved to have his focus brought back to her. "Leon, we only have two days left before it becomes business as usual. I don't suppose you'd like to spend that time enjoying whatever refinements this town has to offer instead of cramping yourself in that townhouse and planning out the minutiae of what is essentially unpredictable. Obsessing about Wesker will only throw your emotions off when you finally encounter him. Hmm. Maybe I should be speaking with Mr. Redfield about that."  
  
"You're right, Ada, but I wouldn't share with Chris. I don't think he'd appreciate the advice."  
  
Ada opened the driver's door to her Miata. Before sliding in, she purred back to Leon, "As long as I have your attention…"  
  
Once in the car, she waited. She waited for Leon to quit looking back and forth from the townhouse to her hand lying on the passenger's seat in invitation. She waited for his choice between duty and desire.  
  
Ada didn't mind waiting when she knew the outcome of her choosing was inevitable.  
  
Leon gave the townhouse one last look then joined Ada in the car. "Do you have anything in particular in mind?" he asked.  
  
"Definitely," she replied.  
  
***  
  
Jill sat in the overstuffed chair in the bedroom she shared with Chris contemplating her cell phone. She had the number on speed dial; he had told her she could call at any time, for any reason. But her cell phone remained turned off.  
  
She had just been through this a few days ago with the RLF and she hadn't gotten any results from it. The minor revelation of Ada's presence at the protest was acknowledge and explained by the woman within seconds. That was not worth the fight and hard feelings between her and Chris. Especially since they came at a time when they should be sticking closer together than ever.  
  
And it wasn't the fact that she wanted to call for back up that she was once again thinking about hiding from Chris. It was the person she wanted to call that had her cooped up in the bedroom. If she was making this call to Rebecca Chambers, she could be sitting in the kitchen with the phone set on speaker. Chris might question her about her choice of the young medic, but he would hardly disapprove.  
  
She told herself she was being stupid. The two men had had one awkward meeting that lasted all of ten minutes. Most of Chris' problem with him had been the easy manner he had around Jill. Not quite flirting, but not quite innocent either. It was just the way he was. Nothing was meant by it. Chris hadn't understood that then but Jill was sure she could explain it now. Once that was over, they could both call him and get him on board.  
  
Jill stayed in her chair. Chris hadn't slept here last night and right now, he was down in the basement. He would likely sleep there again tonight. Deep down, Chris's attitude problem and all, she knew she was wrong to go behind his back. She would need to do some major apologizing before even thinking about bringing her new idea to him. After she had settled things with Chris, then she could broach the topic. Gently.  
  
But she didn't feel like apologizing right now. Everything was still too tense between them; she was pretty sure any attempt outside of a full groveling surrender would bring another fight. One of the reasons she and Chris were so suited for each other was that they were both strong willed individuals with a healthy belief in what they did and a stubborn refusal to back down from that belief. Unfortunately, that had a pronounced downside at times like these.  
  
She remembered Claire's words about things working out after the mission to Florida. She believed her, but that would be too late.  
  
Jill hit the power button. The last she had heard, he was in Miami anyway. Maybe it was fate that she was to call him – Ada's stupid serendipity all over again.  
  
The phone rang seven times before she heard a groggy "yeah" on the other end.  
  
"I didn't mean to wake you."  
  
"That you, Jill? Don't worry about it. What can I do for you?"  
  
"Good thing you're rested, Carlos, because it's a long story…"  
  
***  
  
Next up: S.T.A.R.S. over Miami, the RLF gets a unfriendly visitor. 


End file.
